Unsolved homicides haunt Tucson families who lose loved ones

Some losses are so painful they can only be talked about through tears.

That’s how it was Monday for four Tucson families who gathered to speak publicly about what it’s like to lose a loved one in an unsolved homicide.

Seated at tables dotted with boxes of tissue, they shared their private grief at a news conference in hopes it might generate new leads in what are now deemed “cold cases.”

The families are appealing for anyone with information to call 88-CRIME. The hotline accepts anonymous tips and is offering a $2,500 reward in each of the cases for information leading to a conviction.

“I want my son to rest in peace, but it feels like we can’t move on,” said Robert Varela, whose teenage son, Ricardo, was killed 10 years ago by what appeared to be a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting.

“Whoever did this ... took someone’s life for no reason,” said Varela, his voice breaking.

Ricardo Varela, 15, was felled outside his grandmother’s house on Feb. 4, 2008, in the 800 block of Calle Matus, near West Grant Road and North 15th Avenue.

The case has frustrated police, who have said the teen, a student at Canyon Rose Academy high school, did not seem to be a target in the shooting.

Victor Vasquez Jr., a Pima Community College student, spoke of the hole in his life since his 43-year-old father was shot to death last year at a bar on the city’s southwest side.

Victor Vasquez Sr. was killed Aug. 5, 2017, in a dispute that broke out around 2:30 a.m. at the Lazy V Saloon at 2812 W. Alvaro Road.

“He was my best friend,” Vasquez Jr. said of his father, whom he described as a fun-loving spirit.

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“If there was a party, he was in the center of it.”

Michael Quintela lost his father in an armed robbery early this year. Anthony Quintela, 61, was shot to death on Jan. 6 at Raspados Funland, 702 W. Irvington Road.

“This man was my world,’ Quintela said of his father. “This is a kind of pain I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”

David and Joanne Berg, both 62, were killed in a hit-and-run crash last year. The couple, who had nine grandchildren, were remembered as devoted family people.

“It hurts to see the grandkids growing up without their grandparents,” said son-in-law Shane Stahlman.

In the Bergs’ case, police have identified the suspect as Oscar Servando Garcia-Pineda, but can’t locate him to make an arrest.

Garcia–Pineda is accused of crashing into the couple’s car around 5 a.m. on May 20, 2017, near South Park Avenue and East Drexel Road.

Becky Porter of Homicide Survivors Inc., which puts on the annual cold case news conference, said it’s always hard for the families involved.

But the alternative — waiting helplessly for news that never arrives — is worse, she said.

“They don’t want their loved ones to be forgotten,” she said.

“The families want to keep their stories alive.”