The San Antonio Police Department on Thursday released video of two persons of interest in the shooting deaths of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend.
Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, were both reported missing last week before they were found dead in Guerra’s car on Tuesday. The couple disappeared a day before Soto, who was 9 months pregnant, was scheduled to be induced to give birth.
The medical examiner’s office confirmed Thursday that the bodies found in the car belonged to Guerra and Soto. Police said each of the victims had a gunshot wound.
The video released Thursday shows a person of interest driving a dark pickup truck, described by Police Chief Bill McManus as a Chevy Silverado with a bed cover, and another person driving Guerra’s Kia Optima. The video was taken “nearby where the bodies were found,” the police department wrote on Facebook.
McManus did not elaborate on the exact location of the video other than to say it was recorded “very close to” where the bodies were found and that it was recorded a few days before the bodies were discovered. Police had previously said they believed the victims had been in the car for several days before being found.
At a briefing Thursday afternoon, McManus said police believe the video shows the driver of Guerra’s Optima using something to wipe down the side of the car, but “we can’t be 100% certain of that.” He said he did not know if the two people in the video had any connection to the victims. He said police do not believe the person seen driving the Optima was Guerra or Soto.
Police currently believe Guerra and Soto were killed somewhere else and then taken to the location they were eventually found, McManus said. He would not say if he believed the two were still alive at the time the video was recorded.
McManus said Guerra died from a gunshot wound to the head, and that the manner of death still hasn’t been determined, but both his and Soto’s killings are being investigated as a capital murder case. McManus said police could not fully rule out the possibility of a murder-suicide, but as of Thursday, he said they do not believe that is what happened.
Soto’s family claims there was a history of abuse
Soto’s mother, Gloria Cordova, previously told CBS News that she believes her daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I think it had something to do with [Guerra] and things that he was doing, not my daughter,” Cordova said. “My daughter just was there with him and they didn’t want … they didn’t want someone to say what happened, somebody that’s going to say it’s so-and-so or this is what he looked like. She just was there at the wrong time.”
Both Soto’s mother and aunt claimed the relationship between Soto and Guerra was abusive, although police have not commented on or confirmed those allegations.
“He used to abuse her,” Cordova said. “And I told her to get out of the relationship, but she — she was hard-headed, she wouldn’t listen. But I think this time she was going to leave him already. That’s what I’m hearing.”
Soto’s aunt, Laura Cordova, said Guerra “would hit [Soto] throughout her pregnancy” and that her niece had bruises.
Guerra’s father told CBS affiliate KENS his son had a criminal history, including an assault charge involving Savanah last year.
“He didn’t hang around the best crowd,” Guerra’s father told the station.
But he said the two had been doing well since moving in together and were looking forward to becoming parents.
“They were inseparable. Was it a perfect relationship? No, but she definitely was not a prisoner there,” he told KENS. “Her and Matthew were both overjoyed and couldn’t wait for Fabian’s arrival.”
Laura and Gloria Cordova also told CBS News Soto was excited to give birth, with Laura Cordova saying her niece was “counting the days.”
— Kerry Breen contributed reporting.