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Savanah Nicole Soto and Matthew Guerra | Police at the scene where their bodies were believed to be discovered (KENS screenshots)
For the second time in two years, a Texas family is dealing with the tragic loss of a child after police say the pregnant 18-year-old who had been missing since Friday was found dead only a few miles from her apartment. The San Antonio Police Department announced that the two victims found dead in a car on Tuesday evening are believed to be Savanah Nicole Soto, who was scheduled to be induced on Saturday, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, who is also the unborn baby’s father.
Savanah Soto’s brother, 15-year-old Victor Ethan Noel Soto, was killed in May 2022 for allegedly stealing about $60 worth of THC cartridges from a then-17-year-old Victor Nathaneal Rivas who later shot the younger boy to death.
San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus provided some additional details about the two bodies found Tuesday evening. McManus said the department was investigating the case as a homicide, but noted that the crime scene was both “complex” and “perplexing.”
“I’m not gonna say anything officially about whether the person in the vehicle was pregnant or is pregnant. I can’t say that officially. We have to wait for the medical examiner to say anything officially,” McManus told reporters. “What we’re looking at right now is a very, very perplexing crime scene. Detectives right now are looking at this as a possible murder, but we do not know for sure. Because of the complex crime scene, we can’t say for sure what we have.”
The victims’ bodies were sent to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies.
McManus emphasized that any information he provided on Tuesday was preliminary information that “could” and “quite possibly will” change as the investigation progresses.
Asked if there was any weapon found inside the car, McManus said investigators were “not sure” about that as of Tuesday night because they had not been able to move the victims’ bodies.
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However, McManus did confirm that the vehicle the two victims were found in was the same Kia Optima authorities described in the CLEAR alert issued Monday. He said the vehicle was found by someone who contacted the Soto family, who then contacted police.
The investigation into Soto’s disappearance was initially led by the Leon Valley Police Department. The city put out a missing person alert over the weekend.
“Ms. Soto, who is pregnant and has passed her delivery date, has caused significant concern among her family members after missing an essential medical appointment,” the alert stated. “The family initially reached out to the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD), and a CLEAR alert was issued.”
In the CLEAR alert, which pertains to non-senior adults who are missing and believed to be at risk of imminent harm, authorities described Soto as a 5-foot-1 white female weighing 115 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen Friday in the 6000 block of Grissom Road in Leon Valley and may be driving a gray 2013 Kia Optima with a temporary Texas license plate.
Savanah Soto was last seen at her apartment on the evening of Friday, Dec. 22.
Joanie Wasil, Savanah Soto’s sister-in-law, told Seattle, Washington, ABC and CW affiliate KOMO that Soto was thrilled about the prospect of becoming a mother.
“We were supposed to celebrate Christmas with (Savanah Soto) and the baby,” she told the station. “All she wanted was that baby. She didn’t think about anything else she was so ready to be a mom.”
