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The bodies of pregnant Texas teenager Savanah Soto and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra have been found, according to reports.
Two bodies, believed to Soto, 18, and Guerra, 23, were found on 26 December. A search for the couple was carried out after their families became alarmed when Soto didn’t turn up on Saturday for an appointment to have her labour induced.
The couple were found inside a vehicle in San Antonio and investigators at the scene partially covered the vehicle with tarps.
Many questions remain about the circumstances leading to their disappearance and deaths. Here’s what we know so far.
When did the pair go missing?
Soto was last seen on 22 December at the Valencia Lofts apartment complex in Leon Valley, a city in Bexar County, Texas. The teen lived there with Guerra, the father of her child, according to family members.
She was described by police as a 5-foot-1-inch pregnant female with brown hair and brown eyes.
Her family became concerned when she didn’t show up for a hospital appointment the following days. She was a week past her due date, and scheduled to have an induced labour, the family told local station KENS-TV.
Her mother, Gloria Cordova, said that she last heard from her daughter on Friday afternoon and got no answer when she knocked on her apartment door on Saturday afternoon.
Ms Cordova added that she also hadn’t been able to contact Guerra since her daughter’s disappearance.
Savanah Nicole Soto (left)
(KTRK screengrab)
Leon Valley police issued a CLEAR Alert for Soto on Monday and later said that her boyfriend was missing too. Soto’s family organized a search of the area near her apartment on Christmas night.
“Savanah was so, so happy because she was going to be a mommy. It breaks my heart,” her mother told KENS-TV.
Where were they found?
The pair were reportedly found dead on Tuesday, 26 December in a parked car in San Antonio, Texas.
Someone spotted the car in the parking lot of an apartment complex in San Antonio and alerted the family, KENS-TV reported. Relatives then called the police.
Two bodies were found in the Kia Optima. Police Chief William McManus told a press conference that the bodies may have been there for three or four days.
Chief McManus didn’t identify the bodies pending confirmation by the medical examiner but said they were believed to be those of the missing couple.
No further details were released.
Are the deaths suspicious?
The police chief described the scene as “very perplexing”. Detectives are considering the possibility that Soto and Guerrera may have been murdered.
“Because of the complexity, the complex crime scene, we can’t say for sure what we have,” Mr McManus said.
Pregnant teen vanishes a day before she was set to give birth
Family members of the couple have also offered conflicting theories about what might have happened.
Soto’s sister-in-law alleged that she was being abused. “i won’t allow you to be one of those statistics of what happens when u have an abusive boyfriend,” she wrote on social media, in a post viewed by The New York Post.
Her mother also posted on Facebook: “I’m worried about her safety she is [with] her boyfriend who is no good.”
But according to the NY Post, Guerra’s mother wrote on social media: “If anyone knows my son Matthew Guerra he and his pregnant girlfriend are missing. I know my son and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”
A grieving family
It is not the first time that tragedy has struck the Soto family.
In 2022, Savanah Soto’s 15-year-old brother Ethan Soto was shot and killed. “It’s hard, it’s like one after another,” Gloria Cordova told KENS.
“It still hurts because what I tell my kids, I’m not complete, I’m not complete, and now I don’t have my daughter,” she said.
(Mariana Delgado/ Facebook)
In October, the man accused of Ethan Soto’s murder, was beaten in the courtroom. According to The Daily Mail, footage allegedly showed members of the Soto family launching themselves towards him as he took the stand.
The footage showed several individuals jumping over a partition and throwing punches at the man – who allegedly made a gesture at the group.
Earlier this week Savanah Soto’s sister-in-law, Mariana Delgado, wrote on Facebook: “It’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year but it’s not it’s the WORST.
“Trying our best to give my daughter’s a good Christmas but it’s so hard to want to feel happy instead we are just heartbroken.. Savanah & baby Fabian ARE supposed to be celebrating with us , this isn’t fair.”
In a separate post, Ms Delgado later requested the family to be allowed to grieve.
