The pregnant Texas teen who is believed to have been killed alongside her boyfriend had lost her younger brother in a shooting – and her family attacked his alleged killer during a massive brawl in court.
The apparent bodies of Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, who vanished before she was scheduled to be induced, and Matthew Guerra, 22, have been found inside his car outside the Colinas at Medical Apartments in San Antonio.
It has emerged that Soto’s family was already reeling from the death of her 15-year-old brother, Ethan Soto, who police said was murdered in May 2022.
Victor Nathaneal Rivas, 18, was awaiting his appearance for his murder trial in October when chaos unfolded inside the Bexar County courtroom, where he made a gesture toward the grieving family.
One of Soto’s relatives jumped the railing and began beating the suspect before three others joined the fracas, which happened in front of a bench full of other inmates as two bailiffs rushed in to separate the combatants, video obtained by KSAT shows.
Rivas, who suffered minor injuries in the melee, was accused of killing Ethan as an act of revenge for when the younger teen allegedly robbed THC cartridges from him.
The suspect allegedly shot at Soto at his family’s home, but the 15-year-old was not injured in that shooting. Ethan’s mom met up with Rivas to pay for the cartridges, an interaction Rivas has denied, according to the news outlet.
Rivas later asked a girl on Instagram to set up a drug deal with Ethan and “stated several times that he was looking for the person who robbed him and was going to ‘catch’ him when he saw him,” according to an affidavit.
The underage girl and Ethan arranged to meet up for a drug deal involving the stolen cartridges before he was allegedly ambushed and fatally shot by Rivas.
Police Chief Bill McManus said his department is investigating a “very, very perplexing crime scene” involving the apparent bodies of Savanah and Guerra.
“Detectives right now are looking at this as a possible murder,” he told reporters Tuesday.
“We believe that is the missing woman and her boyfriend but we can’t confirm that right now officially until the medical examiner takes a look at the bodies and makes that determination as to their identity,” McManus said.
The top cop said the couple appears to have been dead inside the car for three or four days, did he did not disclose how the two died and whether the fetus survived.
The 18-year-old, who was nine months pregnant, had been missing since Friday, the day before she was scheduled to go to a hospital for an induction.
On Monday, a CLEAR Alert was issued by the Texas Department of Transportation stating that she might be in danger. Her family accused Guerra of being “abusive” toward the young mom-to-be.
“I won’t allow you to be one of those statistics of what happens when u have an abusive boyfriend,” her sister-in-law wrote on Facebook.
Savanah’s mom, Gloria Cordova, became concerned when she failed to show up at the hospital for her scheduled induction.
“I went by [their apartment] and knocked and knocked and knocked and she wasn’t answering. We got to the hospital. They said she wasn’t there,” Cordova told KHOU11.
“This is not like her,” Cordova told KSAT. “She was so excited to have this baby. The house was already baby-ready. There’s no reason why she would just get up and go off and do that.”
The mom added: “[Savanah] knows what I went through with Ethan, and I know she doesn’t want me to go through this again.”