Savanah Nicole Soto and Matthew Guerra (KSAT/YouTube screenshot) and a person of interest in their murders (SAPD)
Police have revealed new details regarding Savanah Nicole Soto, the pregnant 18-year-old in Texas who was reported missing last week when she failed to show up at the hospital to be induced and was later found dead in a car alongside her 22-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Guerra.
San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus on Thursday gave a press conference during which he confirmed that Soto and Guerra’s bodies were both found inside the couple’s gray Kia sedan and both victims died from fatal gunshot wounds. Their unborn baby was also pronounced dead at the scene.
“Clearly, it was a heinous act,” McManus said. “It was unspeakable, the tragedy of it.”
Soto was last seen alive on Friday, Dec. 22 at the apartment complex where she and Guerra both lived. She had been scheduled to go to the hospital the following evening with her mother to be induced, but never made it to the appointment. Her family then reported her missing and a CLEAR alert was issued.
Soto and Guerra’s bodies were found in the vehicle located in the 5900 block of Danny Kaye Drive on Tuesday, with police saying that the car appeared to have been at that location for several days.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the cause of death for Guerra was a gunshot wound to the head. While authorities said that the manner of Guerra’s death has not been officially determined, McManus said that both deaths are being investigated as capital murder. He later clarified that investigators currently do not believe it was a murder-suicide, but noted that the possibility still “exists.”
In response to a question from a reporter, McManus further explained that investigators currently believe Soto and Guerra were killed at a different location and then driven to the area where their bodies were later discovered.
McManus noted the medical examiner had not yet officially identified the second victim, but the medical examiner’s office later confirmed that it was Soto, who also died of a gunshot wound to the head, San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported.
McManus, who had previously said the discovery of the bodies yielded a “very, very perplexing crime scene,” said that investigators were combing through hours of surveillance footage in hopes that it would help police piece together the couple’s final hours.
Police on Thursday also released surveillance footage of the victim’s vehicle being driven by someone other than the victims and a dark-colored Chevy Silverado pickup truck being driven by a second unknown party. McManus asked for the public’s assistance in identifying either of the two persons of interest who appear in the video, which he said was filmed “nearby” to where Soto and Guerra’s bodies were later found.
The footage, which was recorded a few days before the discovery of the bodies, shows the Silverado and the victims’ Kia pulling into a parking lot and stopping side-by-side. The driver of the Silverado, who appears to be a heavyset male wearing a white tank top, exits the vehicle and opens the driver’s side door of the Kia. He appears to communicate with the driver of the Kia, who gets out briefly before they both return to their vehicles and drive away.
McManus said they believe the person driving the victims’ car gave the driver of the Silverado “something to wipe down the side of the car with,” but added that “we can’t be 100% certain of that.”
Authorities declined to answer whether they believe Soto and Guerra were alive at the time the video was filmed.
Anyone with information that may be relevant to the investigation is being urged to contact SAPD Homicide at (210) 207-7674 or (210) 207-7440.
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