On the night of January 19, 2020, violence shattered a family in San Diego. Ruben Chavez and Evelyn Virgen were shot and killed in their vehicle, their lives ending abruptly on a street that offered no warning and no mercy.

Nearby, inside the same car, their three young children survived — physically unharmed, yet forever changed. Too young to understand why their parents didn’t come home, they became the silent witnesses to a tragedy no child should ever endure.

In the immediate aftermath, the children were placed into protective care as investigators searched for answers. But days turned into months, and months into years. No arrests. No clear motive. No closure. The case remains open, its silence echoing louder with time.

The community has struggled to make sense of the loss. Friends and neighbors remember Ruben and Evelyn as parents first — people whose lives revolved around their children’s safety and future. Now, that future looks painfully uncertain.

Detectives continue to follow leads, urging anyone with information to come forward. For the families left behind, hope rests on the belief that truth will one day break through the darkness.

Until then, three children grow up carrying questions they didn’t ask — and a grief they never deserved.

Some crimes don’t end at the scene.
They linger in empty seats, unanswered calls,
and childhoods forever altered by one night of violence.