LEON VALLEY, Texas – The search for Savanah Soto, a pregnant woman who was reported missing by her family when she didn’t show up at the hospital to be induced, ended in tragedy on Tuesday.
Family members told KSAT that Soto, 18, was found dead in her car in the 5900 block of Danny Kaye along with an adult male, who is believed to be Soto’s boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22.
SAPD Chief William McManus and the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office have not confirmed their identities, nor their causes of death.
As of Wednesday morning, this is what we know about the case.
McManus calls crime scene ‘complex’
During a news conference on Tuesday evening, McManus said detectives were investigating the crime “as a possible murder.”
“It’s a very perplexing crime scene,” McManus said. “… It’s a complex scene.”
The Kia Optima where the bodies were discovered is believed to belong to the boyfriend, he said. At the time of the news conference at 6 p.m., McManus said investigators had not yet moved the bodies.
He was unsure if a weapon was found in the car.
The bodies were believed to have been there for three or four days. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to KSAT Wednesday morning that the bodies were an 18-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man.
Joanie Wasil, Soto’s sister-in-law, told KSAT that someone contacted her via Facebook and said they saw the Optima in the parking lot. She contacted the police as she and her family made their way to the scene.
Wasil said she saw Soto and Guerra dead in the vehicle, and she believed they were shot. She glanced at Soto’s face “and didn’t want to see anymore,” Wasil told KSAT.
Wasil added she saw Soto in the front passenger’s seat and Guerra in the back.
The location is about three miles away from her apartment in the 6000 block of Grissom Road where Soto was last seen at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 22.
CLEAR Alert issued on Christmas Day
Leon Valley police said Soto’s family told them that she was supposed to be induced into labor but did not show up at the hospital.
When reached by KSAT on Sunday, Leon Valley police said they received a request for a welfare check from Soto’s family on Friday night.
Investigators went to Soto’s home and did not see any signs of forced entry. Police told KSAT that at the time, there was no cause for concern.
LVPD said they had heard that the couple was possibly out of town.
On Monday at around 4 p.m., DPS issued the CLEAR Alert for Soto.
The CLEAR Alert stated Soto was last seen in a 2013 Gray Kia Optima. The initial alert gave the temporary Texas license plate number of 4289D57, but an updated alert issued on Tuesday added another license plate number TRC9447.
The alert was discontinued just before 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
A CLEAR Alert is a state program for missing adults. CLEAR stands for Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue and is used to locate and rescue missing, kidnapped or abducted adults, or adults who are in immediate danger.
Soto was ‘excited’ to be a new mom
Soto’s family gathered outside her apartment on Monday, Christmas Day, and asked for the public’s help in searching for her.
“I don’t know where she’s at or where she could be at because this is not like her,” her mother Gloria Cordova told reporters. “She was so excited to have this baby, the house is already baby-ready. She was so excited she was going to be a mommy.”
Cordova added that there was no reason why she would have intentionally fled.
Wasil said they were expecting to spend Christmas Day with the new mother and baby.
“It’s all she was talking about since she got pregnant… That was her life,” Wasil said. “She was so ready to be a mom. I think she was meant to be a mom.”
Soto’s younger brother was killed in 2022
Soto’s younger brother, Ethan, was killed in a shooting on May 16, 2022, in the 2000 block of Alston Street on the West Side.
At the time, McManus said Ethan, 15, went down the street to meet someone when an argument ensued, leading to the shooting. Ethan Soto was pronounced dead at the scene.
Victor Nathaneal Rivas, now 19 years old, was charged with murder in the case. An arrest warrant affidavit stated the shooting happened over what appeared to be an act of revenge for a drug robbery.
In an interview with KSAT in June 2022, Cardova said Ethan had a big heart.
“I love him … I miss him. I would have never let him go,” Cordova said at the time.
Their family was behind a Bexar County courtroom brawl involving Rivas. The video of the incident was shared with KSAT in October.
BCSO said after Rivas made a gesture toward Soto’s family members, they jumped a partition in the courtroom and began assaulting Rivas.
Rivas is awaiting trial.
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