New video released in 'perplexing' case of pregnant teen, boyfriend found dead

SAN ANTONIO, TX (Court TV) — Police have confirmed that two bodies found inside of a car in San Antonio are those of a missing pregnant teen and her boyfriend, and have released surveillance video they say shows two “persons of interest” in the case.

Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, were reported missing just before Christmas a few miles northwest of San Antonio in Leon Valley, triggering a state-wide emergency alert.

Savannah Soto picture distributed by Texas Department of Public Safety

Savanah Soto, the pregnant teen who was last seen on Dec. 23 in Leon Valley, about 10 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio. In the picture, Savannah is resting her hand on a shirt showing her younger brother Ethan Soto, who was murdered in May 2022. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

Soto was a week overdue to deliver her baby and was scheduled to have labor induced at a hospital last Saturday night, her family told KENS-TV. But her mother said she got no answer Saturday afternoon when she knocked on the door of Soto’s apartment in the suburb of Leon Valley.

The family reportedly spent Christmas night searching the area. On Monday, Leon Valley police issued a missing-person alert for Soto and later said Guerra also could not be found.

When Guerra’s Kia Optima was spotted about three miles from Soto’s apartment Tuesday, the police found what they described as a crime scene: two bodies inside the vehicle with gunshot wounds.

San Antonio Police Chief William P. McManus offered very few details about the case but did say the two bodies were believed to be the young missing couple, who could have been in the car for 3-4 days, and that detectives were considering it a “possible murder.”

“What we’re looking at right now is a very perplexing crime scene,” McManus said Tuesday night to a group of people who could be heard crying in the background. He said he didn’t know whether a weapon had been found in the car, and police did not directly respond to that and other emailed questions from the Associated Press.

On Thursday, the San Antonio Police Department released video footage it said was taken from a location nearby where the bodies were found. “In the video are two persons of interest, one driving a dark-colored pickup truck, the other driving the victims’ silver Kia Optima,” police said in a post on social media sharing the video.

Guerra was arrested on Christmas of 2022 for assaulting Soto and sentenced to probation, according to court records obtained by WOAI-TV. A judge extended the sentence through February 2025 after Guerra was later arrested on other charges. The conditions of his probation barred him from possessing a weapon and from having “harmful or injurious” communication with Soto.

The tragic news comes to a family still mourning Savannah’s younger brother, 15-year-old Ethan Soto, who police said was killed in a shooting in May 2022, allegedly over a drug robbery. Video obtained by KSAT captured at his alleged killer’s preliminary hearing showed a brawl that broke out in the courtroom when members of Soto’s family jumped a partition, attacking Victor Rivas, 19, who was sitting handcuffed in the jury box.

San Antonio Police couldn’t say how the two ended up in the Colinas at Medical Center Apartments, but SAPD is now leading this investigation while the medical examiner works to officially identify them.

Scripps News Corpus Christi and AP contributed to this story.