Joseph Anthony Reynaga, 27, was working as a security guard at McMurphy’s Irish Pub in east Bakersfield when he was shot in the early morning hours of January 28, 2024. Bakersfield Police responded about 2:25 a.m. to the 10 block of Monterey Street and found Reynaga lying in the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Surveillance captured the attack. As Reynaga walked from a parking lot back toward the bar, a gunman dressed entirely in black approached, fired multiple times, then fled in a black BMW sedan. Detectives recovered a cellphone and text messages suggesting the suspect believed Reynaga had sexually assaulted a family member two days earlier, on January 26; video from the pub that night shows Reynaga socializing with that family member.

A records check tied the fleeing BMW to Jorge Esteban Garcia, 24; Garcia was arrested February 9, 2024, and charged with first-degree murder, pleading not guilty. Authorities also charged his significant other, Desiree Marie Sanchez, with two counts of accessory after the fact, alleging she falsely provided him an alibi. A judge later found sufficient evidence to send both defendants to trial, and prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty against Garcia. Does anyone have information about Reynaga’s movements that night or about the people involved?