New details are emerging after Texas officials say they found pregnant teen, Savanah Soto, and her boyfriend dead inside a vehicle in San Antonio on Tuesday.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Savanah Soto, 18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, were found dead inside a Kia Optima in the Medical Center area of San Antonio. Police found the pair after Soto failed to show up at an area hospital for a scheduled induction days prior.
The discovery happened nearly one year after Guerra assaulted Soto on Christmas Day 2022. Following the attack, police arrested him for violating a protective order by having in-person contact with Soto.
In April 2023, the charge was dismissed due to a missing witness, according to court documents obtained by San Antonio’s NBC4 News. He was also charged for violating the court-ordered “Battering Intervention and Prevention Program.”
In June 2023, a subsequent probation order granted Guerra permission to have contact with Soto, provided it was not “harmful or injurious.” The order explicitly prohibited Guerra from possessing firearms.
Guerra was also arrested on unrelated charges, including evading arrest, reckless driving, and unlawfully carrying a weapon. He was due back in court on January 9, 2024.
Savannah Soto’s boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, was still on probation for assaulting Savannah last Christmas. Court records show he was permitted to have contact with her so long as it wasn’t harmful or injurious.
Guerra was due for court on Jan. 9 for the other cases. pic.twitter.com/80WzQOfLVq
— Mariah Medina (@MMedinanews) December 26, 2023
Police have not said whether they believe Guerra is responsible for Soto’s death. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus emphasized that the crime scene was “perplexing.”
“What we’re looking at right now is a very very perplexing crime scene,” McManus told reporters at a brief news conference. “Detectives are looking at this as a possible murder, but we don’t know for sure.”
The car is the Kia Optima that was said to belong to Guerra.
“The family was alerted that the car was here, and they phoned it in,” he said, adding that it appeared the pair had been dead for “possibly three or four days.”
According to WOAI, the discovery was made at Colinas at Medical Apartments on the northwest side of the city.
Soto hadn’t been seen since Friday afternoon, prompting the Texas Department of Public Safety to issue a CLEAR alert on Monday.
“Savanah was so, so happy because she was going to be a mommy. It breaks my heart,” Savanah’s mother, Gloria Cordova, said before the discovery, according to KENS 5.
The distraught mother said Soto had the nursery set up for the baby and planned to have Cordova in the delivery room with her. When Cordova knocked on her apartment door to check up on her Saturday afternoon, no one answered.
“I went by there and knocked and knocked and knocked and she wasn’t answering,” Cordova said. “We got to the hospital. They said she wasn’t there.”
Cordova said that she couldn’t locate Guerra and Soto’s phone was dead.
“We don’t even know what happened. They said it could be anything,” Cordova said.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Savanah Soto/Leon Valley PD]
