No gun, cellphone found in car where Savanah Soto was found dead with boyfriend

The family of Savanah Nicole Soto’s boyfriend does not believe he killed the pregnant Texas teen who went missing on the day she was supposed to be induced – as it was revealed that no firearms or cellphones were discovered in the car where cops found the couple’s bullet-riddled bodies.

Gabriel Guerra, whose son Matthew Guerra, 22, was found dead alongside his girlfriend Soto, 18, outside of a San Antonio apartment complex, insisted that his child was not responsible for the couple’s deaths.

“They were inseparable. Was it a perfect relationship? No, but she definitely was not a prisoner there,” he told KENS5. .

Guerra’s father and stepmother described how the couple was looking forward to the arrival of baby Fabian.

“We still can’t believe we’re just never going to meet him,” Guerra’s stepmother, Raquel Guerra, told Fox San Antonio.

Meanwhile, his father, Gabriel, pointed out presents under a Christmas tree.

“Those are Savanah’s and Matthew’s and baby Fabian’s,” he told the outlet.

“We had to remind him at the baby shower to let Savanah open some of the gifts. He was opening all the gifts. They were both definitely happy and excited,” Gabriel said.

Savanah Nicole Soto,18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, died from gunshot wounds, police revealed. TikTok

Soto’s brother, Jordan Corona, told CBS News that police told him that both the pregnant teen and her boyfriend were shot in the back of the head.

Soto had been in the front passenger seat with a child carrier on her lap and her boyfriend in the back, sources familiar with the probe told News 4 San Antonio.

Police did not find a firearm or Guerra’s cellphone inside the Kia sedan where the couple was found Tuesday.

Guerra’s family described their efforts in trying to locate the missing couple on Saturday, the day Soto was expected to be induced.

“Once it was, like, the 2:30 p.m. mark, we started panicking,” Gabriel told the outlet. “I started calling. I’m calling, racing home, racing over there, calling police.”

Gabriel and Raquel Guerra don’t believe their dead son killed his girlfriend, Savanah Nicole Soto. FOX San Antonio

He said he raced to his son’s apartment, where he kicked in the door and found a lit candle and the diaper bag that Soto planned to take with her to the appointment.

“That’s when I saw Savanah’s overnight bag for the hospital that she didn’t take with her and that even threw me more in a panic,” Gabriel told Fox San Antonio.

He said he asked Leon Valley police whether authorities could request his son’s location data information, but that a detective told him it was unlikely a judge would grant the request because the situation lacked exigent circumstances.

“(The detective) basically said, ‘They’re adults and if they want to disappear, they can disappear,” he told News 4. “And, again, I reminded them, the baby is overdue, has been overdue — they missed the due date.

The couple were both found dead in a car, Soto’s sister-in-law said. WOAI

“And to me that’s a life-threatening … I mean, there should have been more urgency,” he added.

The detective told the outlet that he had been instructed by the police chief to direct questions to the San Antonio Police Department, which did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.

“I just hope we can get to the bottom of this,” Raquel told News 4. “And justice be served, because I just can’t fathom how anybody could do that  to a pregnant woman/ I just can’t get that out of my head.”

Gabriel said he knows Guerra was arrested in 2022 for domestic abuse against Savanah — and even suggested that the boyfriend stay in custody longer.

“They had contacted each other on the phone and that was a violation, so they can please keep him in there and unfortunately it would have to be Savanah to say that, and she wouldn’t do it, so he was let out,” he told the outlet, adding that domestic abuse charges were never filed again.

Guerra was reportedly on probation for assaulting Soto on Christmas Day last year.

Gabriel said his son had a criminal history that included unlawful carry of a weapon, evading police and an assault charge causing bodily injury.

Savanah Soto was set to be induced the day she vanished. TikTok

In June, a judge granted Guerra probation for the family violence case, and permitted him to have contact with Soto as long as it was not  “harmful or injurious,” according court documents cited by News 4.

The probation was set to expire in June 2024, but a judge extended it to February 2025 after Guerra picked up additional, unrelated charges including unlawful carrying of a weapon, evading arrest in a vehicle, and reckless driving, according to the paper.

“He didn’t hang around the best crowd,” Gabriel said, but added that he believed the young man was going to change when he became a dad himself.

Soto (left) was excited to become a mom, her family said. Gloria Cordova / Facebook

“He talked about how it was going to make him better, a better person,” Gabriel told KENS5.

Meanwhile, Soto’s mother, Gloria Cordova, also said she is seeking answers about the mysterious deaths.

“Why was she in the front and he was in the back? Obviously, that says someone else was there,” she asked, adding that she suspects Guerra was involved in illegal activity, according to the outlet.

“I think it had something to do with him and things that he was doing, not my daughter,” Cordova told CBS News.

“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,” she added.

“He used to abuse her 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,” Cordova told the outlet.

“They took an innocent, an innocent girl that was going to be a mommy, they just took her life for nothing,” Cordova told KENS5.

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Parents of college student from NJ killed by stray bullet speak out

The grieving family of the New Jersey teen killed by a stray bullet on her Nashville college campus have paid tribute to her “beautiful soul” — with her mom saying that part of her own heart was taken with the loss.

Jillian Ludwig, 18, a freshman at Belmont University, died overnight Thursday, two days after she was first found struck in the back of the head by a round allegedly fired by a career criminal.

“There’s a piece of my heart that was taken from me,” Ludwig’s mom, Jessica, told WKRN-TV.

The slain teen’s dad, Matt, said: “It’s kind of hard to comprehend. She was thriving so well and doing so well in so many ways, in every way.

“For it to all change so suddenly — it’s, it’s hard to, it’s hard to process. It’s impossible to process,” he added.

The family had raced to Vanderbilt University Medical Center when their daughter was at first fighting for her life, before succumbing to her injuries, WSMV reported.

Jillian Ludwig, center, with her parents, Matt and Jessica.
Family Handout

Her aunt Geri Wainwright sent the outlet a text shortly before the family received the horrible news that she had died.

“Jillian has such a beautiful soul,” her aunt Geri Wainwright texted the outlet shortly before news of her niece’s death was announced.

“Her smile lights up any room and she is loved by everyone lucky enough to know her,” she wrote.

Jillian Ludwig was an accomplished musician who regularly gigged in her native New Jersey.
Facebook / Jillian Ludwig

“Jillian is fierce. She lives every day with passion. Her fearlessness, spontaneity, love of laughter, kindness and compassion make her irreplaceable to our family. Losing her would forever change the fabric of our lives,” Wainwright wrote at the time.

“We sent our girl into the world to do amazing things. Given the opportunity, she would have. So we have to ask, why was this man free?” she continued.

“What kind of world do we live in where it’s not safe to take a walk near your college dorm in broad daylight? How could someone so carelessly dim the light of a star destined to shine so bright?” the aunt added.

Ludwig was struck by a stray bullet as she walked near her Nashville campus.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig, a graduate of Wall High School in New Jersey, was an “accomplished student, musician, and vocalist,” she said.

“She chose to study Music Business at Belmont University. She loved the short time she’s spent at Belmont. She loves her life, her friends, parents and her younger brothers, Shane & Trevor,” Wainwright added.

On Thursday, the Wall Township Committee sent a letter to the community, remembering Ludwig and offering mental health resources, according to WKRN.

“We are incredibly saddened to hear about the tragic and untimely passing of Jillian Ludwig. Jillian was an exceptional young leader within our community,” it wrote.

“She graced us with her beautiful voice to sing the National Anthem at many township community events. Jillian was a member of the Young Women’s Leadership Committee of Wall Township and was the recipient of the 2023 Women’s Leadership Committee Scholarship Award,” the local committee said.

Ludwig performed at venues around her New Jersey community, playing bass and guitar along with singing during the Asbury Park Porch Fest and Red Bank in New Jersey, The Tennessean reported.

Her first show was more than two years ago, when she performed at The Saint in Asbury Park with her band Arcadia.  

Accused shooter Shaquille Taylor.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig was shot about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday while walking at Edgehill Community Memorial Gardens Park in Nashville.

Shaquille Taylor, 29, allegedly opened fire on a car from a public housing complex across the street — striking her as she walked on a track, police said.

Surveillance video and witnesses led cops to the suspected gunman, who admitted to firing shots, police said. He has been charged over previous shootings — but was released from custody earlier this year after being deemed incompetent to stand trial.

The suspect was accused of giving the gun to another person after Tuesday’s shooting, The Tennessean reported, citing court records. His girlfriend also told investigators that he admitted to her that he was involved in a shooting, according to police records cited by the paper.

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Bryan Kohberger worked as fish cutter

Bryan Kohberger spent four months working as a fish cutter in Pennsylvania — years before he allegedly knifed four University of Idaho students to death last year, according to a new report.

Charles Conklin, owner of Big Brown Fish and Pay Lakes in Effort, Pennsylvania, told People magazine that Kohberger worked for him as a seasonal employee for four months while in high school in 2011.

Conklin said he trained Kohberger how to slice raw fish using industry-standard blades – but that he barred him from interacting with customers due to his demeanor.

“He never warmed up and got friendly. Most kids that work here, we consider like family,” he told the mag. “He was withdrawn and didn’t show improvement.”

Retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told NewsNation Now that familiarization with a knife could be important for understanding his alleged murders using a large blade.

“As an investigator, you’re looking at not only why did they commit a crime, but how did they commit a crime and their weapon of choice,” the former fed told the outlet.


Charles Conklin, owner of Big Brown Fish and Pay Lakes in Effort, Pennsylvania, said he hired Bryan Kohberger as a fish cutter in 2011 while he was a high school student.
NewsNation

“Why not manual strangulation or using a ligature or even blunt force trauma? But no, he chose a knife, and when I saw this on this application, I thought, ‘Wow, he has at least a familiarization with knives, comfortable enough to seek employment using one,’” she said.


“He never warmed up and got friendly … he was withdrawn and didn’t show improvement,” Conklin said about the young Kohberger.
Facebook / Big Brown Fish & Pay Lakes

Records obtained by Coffindaffer and provided to the news outlet also show that Kohberger worked as a security guard for the Pleasant Valley School District in Pennsylvania.    

“I think that’s really important because we’ve known he was book smart, but now we know he’s had practical application thereof,” Coffindaffer told NewsNation Now.


Kohberger has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary count.
AP

A knife and sheath like the one found at the Moscow, Idaho, home where the four students were murdered.
KA-BAR

Late last year, Kohberger was fired as a teaching assistant at Washington State University – where he was a PhD candidate in criminology — after it investigated him for run-ins with a professor and his behavior toward women.

On Sept. 23, 2022, he had a verbal “altercation” with Professor John Snyder, whom he was assisting, according to a termination letter obtained by The New York Times.

The 28-year-old met with a university official to “discuss norms of professional behavior,” the paper reported, citing three sources and a letter that informed him he had failed to meet the conditions required to maintain his funding.


Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, were killed on Nov. 13.

On Nov. 2 — 11 days before Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead inside their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho –department officials met with Kohberger to discuss an improvement plan but decided to cut ties with him effective Dec. 31.

On Dec. 30, he was arrested at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary count.

He is scheduled to appear in court next on June 26 after he waived his right to a speedy trial and was denied bail in January.

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Man killed by cops while cleaning out late grandma’s home: family

An Ohio man has died after being shot by police who believed he was a burglar – but his family says he had only been cleaning out his late grandmother’s house.

Police in Wyoming, a city outside Cincinnati, encountered Joe Frasure Jr. 28, while responding about 1 a.m. Monday to a 911 call that a few people were trying to break into an apartment on Durrell Avenue, NBC News reported.

Cops found Frasure Jr. and his father, Joe Frasure Sr., at the rear of the building, where the younger man refused orders to get out of a minivan, Police Chief Brooke Brady said.

“The minivan reversed at a high rate of speed, before hitting a tree, at which point the vehicle accelerated rapidly at our officers,” she said in a video statement, according to the news outlet.


Joe Frasure Jr., 28, has died after being shot by Ohio police who thought he was a burglar.
GoFundMe

Frasure’s family said he and his dad had been clearing out his late grandmother’s home.
Facebook / Joe Frasure

“The officers fired four shots at the minivan as the minivan was accelerating towards them,” she added.

Frasure Jr. was struck by the gunfire and the vehicle slammed into the building, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office.

“With the vehicle smoking and the engine still running, our officers forced their way into the minivan and pulled Mr. Frasure from it. They then provided life-saving care and he was transported to University Hospital,” Brady said.

“This is a tragedy for all involved. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family at this time,” she added.


Police said Frasure was aiming a minivan at officers when he was shot.
WKRC

The man’s family said he and his dad were just helping his sister clear out the apartment where their grandmother lived before she died recently, WLWT reported.

“I didn’t hear no commands. All I heard is pop, pop, pop, pop. Like, it was, like, 10 rounds,” his sister Shonda Coleman told WLWT, as she refuted the police chief’s account.

“I want to see the bodycam. I want all the cops that was here, every one of them that was here, I want their information,” she added.

Coleman Sr. also told WLWT that his son was not aiming at police when he was in the minivan.

The family provided a local news outlet a photograph of him on life support at UC Medical Center, where he died Tuesday.


Friends and family are asking police to release body cam video of the deadly encounter.
WKRC

On Wednesday, friends and relatives held a small protest outside the Wyoming Police Department, Local 12 reported.

“I want to know why they killed my brother. I want to see the video,” said Frasure’s brother, who is also named Joe.

“My brother was a father, a brother, a son, a family member. A loving friend. Please help me get justice for my brother, please. Help me. Please help me,” he said.

The body cam footage has reportedly been turned over to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s office.

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Video shows lawyer Elliot Blair dancing shortly before death

Elliot Blair was happily dancing the night away hours before he was mysteriously found face-down dead at a Mexican resort.

A video obtained by The Post shows Blair and his wife, Kimberley Williams, having fun and dancing to a live band at Splash Baja restaurant and bar in Rosarito Beach at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 13

They were celebrating their first wedding anniversary before the trip took an ugly turn.

Case Barnett, who represents Blair’s family, told The Post the couple had only been at Rosarito three days and were frequent visitors to the hotel and nearby bars and restaurants. 

The couple, who both worked at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, made sure to get their favorite room at Las Rocas Resort and Spa — Room 308 — which was on the second floor of the posh hotel.

After enjoying dinner, dancing and karaoke that Friday, the couple went back to the room at about 11:45 p.m. Williams went straight to bed while Blair took a quick shower, according to the family.

Elliot Blair was happily dancing hours before he was mysteriously found face-down dead at a Mexican resort.
Provided by the Blair Family

About two hours later, Williams was awakened by the sound of frantic hotel employees directing her to her husband’s lifeless body, which had somehow ended up on the ground floor near an open walkway.

“When she gets down to the body, he’s facedown on the ground,” Barnett said. “She screams, ‘Call the cops! Call an ambulance! He needs an ambulance!’ The employees say they were already there, but left because he was already dead.”

The family said Mexican police who responded to the scene after 1:45 a.m. initially told Williams her husband had injuries to his head but later added they also found a bullet hole.

Blair and his wife, Kim Williams, were celebrating their first wedding anniversary before the trip took an ugly turn.
Provided by the Blair Family

Barnett said a liaison with the coroner’s office contacted the family on Jan. 16 and told them the cause of death was a “trauma to the head” but nothing about a bullet hole. The family has yet to see the coroner’s report or even see Blair’s body, which remains at a mortuary in Rosarito. 

The attorney general of Baja California’s version of events is that Blair fell to his death when he went outside to shoo away pigeons outside his hotel room. Officials said Williams told investigators Blair was annoyed by noisy birds, a claim the family has refuted.

Barnett said Williams told the cops birds would roost near their room and Elliot would jokingly coo at the birds, but it was lost in translation.

“I don’t know if the Mexican cops misinterpreted what Kim said or if they extrapolated it,” Barnett said. “There is just confusion everywhere. She 100% unequivocally did not say he was shooing those birds. It just does not make any sense.”

A man who met the couple at Splash Baja told The Post he struck up a conversation with Blair after he ordered an Old Fashioned cocktail at the bar.

“He started telling me how he makes the Old Fashioned and that’s how the conversation started,” said the restaurant patron, who wanted to remain anonymous. “Elliot said that was his favorite drink. And then I started telling him how I made my drink. The bartender then asked Elliot if he wanted one also, but he said, ‘No, I’m already drinking beer and had a shot of Tequila earlier. I don’t want to mix it.’ That was very good of him. He wasn’t there just to drink.”

Baja California police claim that Blair hit his head fatally trying to shoo away pigeons.
Provided by the Blair Family

Blair’s family have insisted neither he nor his wife were drunk that night, and are not big drinkers. The man said he saw the couple each had a beer and did not appear intoxicated.

Blair’s mother, Stella, had hoped to take possession of her son’s body so an independent toxicology test could be completed, but she was told Wednesday the body had already been embalmed. Authorities reportedly told the family the body had to be embalmed before it is allowed back across the border.

Williams has been left reeling as more questions continue to surface in connection to her husbands death, Barnett told The Post.

Blair and Williams were having fun and dancing to a live band at Splash Baja restaurant and bar in Rosarito Beach.
Provided by the Blair Family

The video of Blair and Williams laughing and dancing to the band performing Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” at the Splash bar serves as a painful and bitter-sweet reminder of the couple’s anniversary celebration.

“They let out a primal scream when Elliot’s mom told them his body was already embalmed,” Barnett said. “It was awful and was nothing like I’ve heard before. There has been so much confusion and all they wanted was to get their own toxicology. I’ve never heard so much pain and screaming. It’s as if Elliot was dead again.

“They specifically were hoping they could clear it and know that he was not drunk. He was not that type of person. And not having a way to know now to clear his name is just devastating.”

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Bryan Kohberger sent DNA for genetic testing to explore ancestry: neighbor

Bryan Kohberger told a fellow grad student that he explored his ancestry by submitting DNA for genetic testing – which could shed light on how investigators used forensic genealogy to zero in on the accused quadruple murderer.

The Washington State University PhD candidate, who is charged with murder in the gruesome deaths of four University of Idaho students, mentioned in August that he took a DNA test to a classmate who was living in the same on-campus housing complex, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Kohberger, who was a student in the university’s criminology department, asked whether the neighbor could identify his ancestral background, which the man guessed was Italy, the student told the paper.

But Kohberger responded that he was actually of German descent.

“He talked about his ancestors. He had some sort of DNA test. I don’t know how he got to that point. … It was just interesting to him,” the neighbor told the Statesman.

Bryan Kohberger reportedly told a fellow grad student he explored his ancestry by submitting DNA for consumer genetic testing.
Kai Eiselein for NY Post
Kohberger and his neighbor, a fellow PhD student in criminology, traded cellphone numbers.
ZUMAPRESS.com

The paper noted that the detail could shed new light on reports that authorities used DNA evidence to home in on Kohberger as a suspect in the brutal Nov. 13 killings in nearby Moscow, Idaho.

A surveillance team that tracked Kohberger to Pennsylvania apparently extracted DNA from the scene, ran it through a public database and used genetic genealogy techniques to connect the sample to the student through his family members, CNN has reported.

“What most likely happened is that the crime scene was a mess and there was DNA evidence left all over the place,” Pete Yachmetz, a security consultant and former FBI agent, told The Post recently. “So what they did was retrieved all the DNA evidence they could and analyzed it.”

Using the technique, investigators first identify the DNA of the victims and then “start looking for DNA of someone who should not have been there,” he said.

In probes like the Idaho massacre, the DNA samples are often put through the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the national DNA database maintained by the FBI, Yachmetz said.

Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were killed in their off-campus house in November.

Kohberger’s arrest record indicates he left the unidentified murder weapon’s “tan leather knife sheath” at the scene of the murders.

The Idaho State Lab identified male DNA on the sheath’s button clasp, which was later linked to the suspect after genetic material was retrieved from the trash outside his family’s home in Pennsylvania.

The neighbor said Moscow police have asked him about his interaction with the alleged quadruple murderer.
REUTERS

Meanwhile, the neighbor also revealed that Moscow detectives contacted him after they found his cellphone number in Kohberger’s phone.

He said authorities asked him “how we met each other, what was his personality, these kinds of things” — but declined to go into further detail.

The neighbor said he also provided the detectives with a screenshot of a text thread between the two men.

The screenshot, reviewed by the Statesman, included a phone number with an eastern Washington area code.

“Hey (neighbor)! How is your semester so far?” read a text from Sept. 21 that appeared to be from Kohberger, the paper reported, adding that the neighbor said he was too busy to reply.

University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found stabbed to death in their off-campus home on Nov. 13.

A preliminary status hearing for Kohberger has been set for June 26.

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Bruce Whitehead wanted for mutilating Orlando, Florida woman

A registered sex offender with the word “Sacrifice” tattooed on his face is being sought in Florida for a horrific rape in which authorities said the victim was mutilated.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that deputies were searching for 54-year-old Bryce Whitehead — described as a “brutal rapist” — in connection with a violent sex assault that took place in Orlando Saturday.

According to a redacted incident report obtained by the station ClickOrlando, the victim was approached by Whitehead while walking near a strip club off Pine Hills Road near North Lane and got into his car willingly.

Whitehead stopped off at a 7-Eleven store to buy water and then drove to a different location, where he pulled over and walked around to the passenger door where the woman was sitting.

The report stated that the ex-convict ordered the woman to get out of the car at knifepoint and then raped her after she refused to have consensual sex with him.

In the course of the attack, Whitehead also allegedly mutilated the victim, although officials did not elaborate on her injuries.

Bruce Whitehead is wanted in connection with a violent sex assault that took place in Orlando on Saturday.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office

After Whitehead fled, deputies were called to the scene and found the victim “scared and shocked.” She told the officers she thought Whitehead was going to kill her.

The woman was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and was expected to recover, officials said.

According to Orange County authorities and information available on the Duval County Sex Offender Registry’s website, Whitehead was convicted of kidnapping, armed sexual battery and first-degree attempted murder in 1986 and spent 20 years in prison.

The victim met Whitehead near a strip club off Pine Hills Road near North Lane.
Google Maps

Whitehead has the word “Sacrifice” written in gothic style tattooed across his forehead, along with several teardrop tattoos on his left cheek.

“His tattoos are unmistakable. If you spot him, call 911 immediately,” the sheriff’s office urged the public.



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