CHIPPEWA FALLS — The man accused of killing his girlfriend and unborn child and leaving her body in a suitcase in the town of Wheaton appeared in Chippewa County Court on Wednesday, where he entered not guilty pleas to charges related to their deaths.
The body of Rosaly Cindy Chavarria Rodriguez, who was 25 at the time she went missing in July 2020, was discovered at a farmhouse in the Town of Wheaton on Oct. 14, 2020. She lived in the Lake Delton area and was pregnant at the time of her disappearance. Her body had been placed in a suitcase; a DNA profile was used to positively identify her body.
Jose E. Dominguez-Garcia, 26, of Reedsburg, was charged in December 2021 in Chippewa County Court with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree intentional homicide of an unborn child and hiding a corpse. A warrant for his arrest was issued at that time. He was arrested Nov. 23 (Thanksgiving morning) in Gladstone, Mo., which is a suburb on the north side of Kansas City. He is being held in the Chippewa County Jail on a $1 million cash bond.
Dominguez-Garcia appeared in court via video from the Chippewa County Jail on Wednesday for the arraignment. A Spanish interpreter also appeared via video conferencing.
Judge James Isaacson accepted the not guilty pleas and set a 10-day trial to begin March 24, 2025. A motion hearing will be held on Oct. 31, and at least one status conference is set for January.
The criminal complaint states that authorities were aware Rodriguez went missing and was last seen working at Sprecher’s restaurant in Lake Delton on July 2, 2020. Dominguez-Garcia, who was dating her, picked up her last paycheck on July 23.
Dominguez-Garcia also worked at the restaurant. An officer in the Reedsburg Police Department interviewed Dominguez-Garcia on July 23, 2020. He told the officer they had broken up on July 4, 2020, after he learned she was cheating on him. He was aware that Rosaly was pregnant, and she had told him the father was a different person. He last worked on July 22, 2020, the day before he spoke to officers.
Police located Dominguez-Garcia’s car — a red 2003 Volkswagen Jetta — on Aug. 26, 2020, in Wisconsin Dells. There was a red gelatin substance, and there were dead flies and maggots in the car. The detective “noted that based on his law enforcement training and experience with death investigations, that what he was looking at were the fluids released through orifices, indicating the beginning of a decaying body that had been in the trunk of the vehicle.”
That car was observed on surveillance footage July 23 along 2655 Highway T, where Rodriguez’s body was later discovered.
Medical records show that Rodriguez was seven weeks, five days pregnant at a doctor’s visit June 18, 2020, and had an estimated due date of Jan. 30, 2021.
Her body was found on a vacant farm between 20th Avenue and 30th Avenue, along the Highway T corridor, south of 29 Pines. Officers learned of the body being at the farm during a drug investigation, when an informant told them about it. Police arrived at the farmhouse and located it, stuffed inside a purple suitcase. The body was heavily decomposed. While no identification was with the body, police suspected it was Rodriguez. The deceased body was wearing black stretch pants and a black T-shirt that read “Sprecher’s Restaurant and Pub,” which is located in Wisconsin Dells. Her long hair fit the description sent out in her missing person profile.
As conditions of bond, if Dominguez-Garcia were able to post the cash bond, he cannot possess any dangerous weapons, cannot leave the state of Wisconsin, and he must comply with pre-trial monitoring.
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