NewsNation

Savanah Soto: Manner of death ruled homicide by medical examiner

Savanah Soto, 18

(NewsNation) — Police said they believe two dead bodies Texas investigators found with gunshot wounds Tuesday are those of a missing pregnant teenager, Savanah Nicole Soto, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra. The San Antonio Medical Examiner’s Office tells NewsNation Soto’s cause of death is a gunshot to the head with her manner of death classified as a homicide.

Soto, 18, was last seen at the apartment she shared with Guerra, 22, around 2 p.m. Friday in Leon Valley, one day before she was scheduled to be induced.


Family members told reporters Soto’s home had been clean and ready for the baby’s arrival. It was unlike her to disappear without telling anyone, they said. A CLEAR alert was issued for Soto by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday.

Then, at a press conference Tuesday, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said two people found dead inside a car in San Antonio were believed to be Soto and Guerra. NewsNation local affiliate KXAN writes both bodies were found in Guerra’s Kia Optima.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified Guerra as one of the bodies, The San Antonio Express-News wrote, but it is still working to confirm if the other one was Soto.

KENS-TV reports the bodies were found Tuesday afternoon after someone spotted the car in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

“What we’re looking at right now is a very, very perplexing crime scene,” McManus said. “Detectives right now are looking at this as a possible murder, but we don’t know for sure.”

The San Antonio Express-News writes that police described the case as “capital murder” in a terse statement, listing an 18-year-old Hispanic woman, a 22-year-old Hispanic man and an “unborn child, deceased” as the victims.

San Antonio police released video footage Thursday taken near where the bodies were found showing two “persons of interest” in the case. One was driving a dark-colored pickup truck with a bed cover, police said, and other was driving the victims’ silver Kia Optima.

Footage shows two persons of interest, driving a dark colored pickup truck and a silver Kia Optima. Police are investigating the deaths of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra.

Anyone with information can call SAPD Homicide at (210) 207-7674 or (210) 207-7440.

Soto’s family described her as an outgoing, bright, selfless woman excited about becoming a mother. An aspiring nurse, Soto worked with her aunt at a senior living center.

Guerra’s father, meanwhile, told KSAT-TV that though his son had previous run-ins with the law — including an assault case where Soto was the victim — he had been turning his life around.

“I and Matthew would have talks in the last two, three months about what kind of changes he wanted to make, what kind of dad he wanted to be, what kind of sports he wanted Fabian in,” Guerra’s father said about him. Fabian was going to be the name of Soto and Guerra’s son.

San Antonio police will be taking over the investigation from the Leon Valley Police Department, though the LVPD will continue working with SAPD, a news release said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.