The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has made a significant breakthrough in a missing person case that dates back to June 2023. The remains of the missing person, who was last seen in 2023, were discovered buried in the San Fernando Valley. The LAPD has identified the suspect as Jose Eduardo Dominguez Garcia, a 26-year-old man who was wanted for the murder of his girlfriend and her unborn child.
Dominguez Garcia had been on the run for three years before he was finally apprehended by the Gladstone Police Department in Missouri. He was pulled over in a traffic stop after an automated license plate reader indicated that the car he was driving, a stolen red Ford Fusion, was in the vicinity. During the arrest, Dominguez Garcia provided officers with several false identities and had multiple fake ID cards in his possession.
The suspect has been charged with first-degree murder, murder of an unborn child, and hiding a corpse in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. These charges were issued on December 12, 2020, after the discovery of a dark-haired, pregnant corpse in an abandoned farmhouse in Wheaton. The body was later identified as Rosaly “Cindy” Chavarria Rodriguez, a 24-year-old woman.
The investigation into Chavarria Rodriguez’s disappearance began in July 2020 when she was reported missing. The informant in a drug investigation later provided information about the location of her body, which was found hidden in a purple suitcase on the abandoned property. It was wearing a shirt from “Sprecher’s Restaurant and Pub,” where both Chavarria Rodriguez and Dominguez Garcia had worked.
Dominguez Garcia had told detectives during an interview in July 2020 that he had broken up with Chavarria Rodriguez after discovering she had been cheating on him. He claimed that he knew she was pregnant but believed the unborn child’s father was someone else. Surveillance footage captured his car in the area where the body was eventually found.
The suspect is currently in custody at the Clay County Detention Center in Missouri. It is unclear when he will be extradited to Wisconsin to face the charges against him. The arrest has brought closure to a long and intense investigation for the former Chippewa County Sheriff, who expressed relief at seeing justice being served.
The LAPD and other agencies involved in the investigation have dedicated significant time and effort to this case. The arrest of Dominguez Garcia, who was believed to have fled the country, came as a surprise to law enforcement. The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office, the Chippewa County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Gladstone Police Department were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.
