Chilling footage has captured two persons of interest wanted in connection to the murder of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, who were shot dead days before she was due to give birth.
Bodies belonging to Savanah Soto, 18, and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra, 22, were discovered inside a Kia Optima in San Antonio on Tuesday. An unborn baby was also found dead inside the car. The victims had been shot.
The grim discovery came just days after the families of the victims raised the alarm, revealing that Soto had failed to show up for an appointment to be induced.
Now, San Antonio police have ruled the case a capital murder investigation and are seeking the public’s help in tracking down two persons of interest in the case.
In the video, released by police on Thursday, a dark-coloured pickup truck with a bed cover is seen driving into a parking lot in San Antonio.
Footage captures vehicle and persons of interest being sought in Savanah Soto killing— (San Antonio Police)
The couple’s Kia Optima is seen driving and coming to a stop side-by-side with the truck.
Police said that one person of interest was driving the Kia Optima and the other the pickup truck.
One of the persons of interest is seen emerging from the pickup truck and approaching the driver’s side of the victims’ car, appearing to speak to the individual inside.
The second person of interest is then seen getting out of the driver’s side of the Kia Optima.
In a press conference on Thursday where the video was played, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters that none of the victims are visible in the footage.
The police chief would not confirm whether or not the video was believed to have been captured before or after the murders took place.
However, he said that police no longer believe it could be a murder-suicide – and are now probing the killings as capital murder.
“It was undetermined at that time whether we were going to be looking at it as a murder-suicide, or as a capital-murder investigation,” he said.
Missing pregnant teen Savanah Soto and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra were found dead on Tuesday, 26 December, 2023— (Leon Valley Police Department)
“I think we’ve gotten past that point right now, unless we get evidence that would lead us to believe otherwise.”
He added: “It was a heinous act, it was unspeakable, the tragedy of it.”
The medical examiner confirmed the identity of the victims on Thursday.
Both Soto and Guerra died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Soto was last seen alive on 22 December at the apartment at the Valencia Lofts apartment complex in Leon Valley where she lived with Guerra.
The next day, her family said she was supposed to attend an appointment to have her labour induced but failed to show up.
Soto’s mother Gloria Cordova told KSAT that she called her and couldn’t get through to her daughter.
“When I called her all morning she wasn’t answering, was going straight to voicemail. We went to the hospital anyways. She was a no-show, and that’s when I called the cops,” she said while she was missing.
“This is not like her. She was so excited to have this baby. The house was already baby-ready.”
The family called the police and two days later on Christmas Day, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a CLEAR Alert for Soto, regarding her as in imminent danger or whose disappearance was involuntary.
The public was asked to be on the lookout for a grey, 2013 Kia Optima with temporary Texas tags numbered 4289D57, connected to the couple.
On Tuesday – four days after she was last seen alive– the three bodies were found inside a Kia Optima parked outside a different San Antonio apartment complex.
Investigators believe their bodies had been at the location for several days.
Initially, some of Soto’s family members speculated as to who may have been responsible for the tragedy, with her sister-in-law posting on social media that she was the victim of an “abusive boyfriend”.
Picture of missing pregnant Texas teenager Savanah Soto— (Mariana Delgado/ Facebook)
In Christmas 2022, Guerra was arrested for assaulting Soto and sentenced to probation, according to court records obtained by WOAI-TV.
His sentence was later extended through February 2025 following further arrests.
Under the terms of his probation, he was banned from possessing a weapon and from having “harmful or injurious” communication with Soto.
However, Guerra’s mother previously insisted on social media that her son “wouldn’t do anything to hurt her”.
This marks only the latest gun violence to rock Soto’s family.
In May 2022, Soto’s 15-year-old brother Ethan was shot dead over what investigators believe was an act of revenge for a drug robbery.
Anyone with any information about the dark-coloured pickup truck with a bed cover, or the two persons of interest seen in the video is urged to call SAPD Homicide at (210) 207-7674 or (210) 207-7440. You can remain anonymous when providing any information on this case.
