Savannah Soto, pregnant San Antonio woman and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra found dead in parked car as authorities grapple to understand what led to their murders and at whose hands. Boyfriend believed to have ties to underworld crime scene.
‘She was so excited she was going to be a mommy.’ A missing pregnant Texas teenager and her boyfriend were found shot to death in a suspected murder-suicide, police said Wednesday morning.
Savannah Soto, 18; Matthew Guerra, 22, and her unborn child were found dead Tuesday in Guerra’s parked car outside of an apartment complex in northern San Antonio. An initial investigation determined the boyfriend-girlfriend had likely been dead for three to four days before their bodies were discovered.
Soto was reported missing Dec. 22, one day before she was supposed to be induced into labor. She never arrived for her appointment. The car was eventually found less than a mile from the hospital complex where she was expected at following a tip through Facebook. The boyfriend was found deceased in the backseat with his pants off, while the pregnant woman who had an active restraining order against her boyfriend was found deceased in the front passenger seat.
Pregnant San Antonio woman & gangster boyfriend murdered as cops seek persons of interest
‘She was so excited she was going to be a mommy.’
Soto’s family said they first requested a welfare check on the night of Dec. 22. Local cops said responding officers found no signs of forced entry at her house and dismissed the concern. Police in Leon Valley, the northwest suburb where Soto lived, said they heard the couple was out of town.
On Monday, cops issued an alert that is typically used for missing or abducted adults. It said Soto was in ‘imminent danger.’ Soto and Guerra’s bodies were located the next day.
Police have yet to say how the boyfriend and girlfriend had come to end up dead, as they continued investigation the doomed lovers’ deaths. In a released statement, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus described the crime scene as ‘very perplexing’ and ‘complex.‘
Soto’s family said that she was thrilled about becoming a mom and had prepared her home for the arrival of the baby, who was to be named Fabian.
‘She was so excited to have this baby, the house is already baby-ready,’ her mother, Gloria Cordova, told reporters. ‘She was so excited she was going to be a mommy.’
Adding, ‘We were suppose to celebrate Christmas with her and her newborn baby.’
Were San Antonio couple murdered – if so, by who and why?
Speaking on TikTok, a woman claiming to be Matthew’s cousin has claimed police told the family he had been tortured. In a video she said: ‘It’s not making sense to me. The way they left him on the back seat. Laid out with his pants off. It was gruesome, they just said it was gruesome.
‘My cousin’s very very very tall. Savanah was in the front passenger seat and she had the car seat on top of her. My cousin was in the back seat, laid out, with his pants off. They said that basically he was tortured, but they didn’t really want to get into the details.’
Of note, Soto, had an active order of protection against Guerra, from last Christmas Day after charges were filed against the boyfriend.
‘You are prohibited from intentionally, knowingly or recklessly communicating with Savannah Soto, whether by telephone, in writing, or in person in a harmful or injurious manner,’ 2022 court records cited by the dailymail stated.
‘My son wouldn’t do anything to hurt her!’
At the time of Soto’s disappearance, her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra had also gone missing amid claims Soto’s boyfriend of being involved in the heavily pregnant woman’s death along with that of the unborn child.
Despite a documented history of violence, Guerra’s mother made online claims that her son was not abusive.
‘I know my son and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her,’ Karen Hernandez posted on social media in the days when the couple was still missing.
‘As a mother, I know my son and his girlfriend were taken against their will because my son does what he does for money.’
Hernandez did not elaborate on what exactly the did for money.
Neither Guerra or Soto were strangers to the court system.
Soto’s family was recently involved in a courtroom brawl.
Soto’s younger brother Ethan, 15, was shot dead in what is believed to have been an act of revenge for a drug robbery in May 2022, according to San Antonio police.
@thestruggleisreallll Savana Soto’s boyfriend, Matthew Guerra’s older brother on live yesterday discussing the disappearance of both Savana, the baby & his brother. #savanasoto #findsavanasoto #savanasotomissing #savanasotoupdate ♬ original sound – Thestruggleisreal
Revenge murders?
Just months ago, members of the Soto family were seen charging the man accused of killing Ethan during court proceedings.
Victor Nathaneal Rivas was taking the stand in court, when members of the Soto family were seen launching at him, triggering a huge brawl breaking out.
Footage shows at least four members jumping a partition and throwing punches at Rivas – who allegedly provoked the group by making a gesture at them.
So far the police have not revealed how Soto and Guerra died or even confirmed the bodies are those of the pregnant teen and boyfriend Guerra. The police chief declined to say whether a murder weapon was found in the vehicle, whether the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide and whether they believed other parties to be involved.
The case is listed as a capital murder investigation, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
On Wednesday, members of Guerra’s family took to social media to defend themselves from allegations that they were involved in the crime.
‘We have nothing to do with this,’ one of Guerra’s relatives said in a Facebook Live video. ‘We promise y’all. I don’t like how the internet is making us look like criminals.’
