Texas teenager Savanah Soto and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra were found dead in San Antonio on Tuesday.
The bodies of Soto, 18, and Guerra, 23, were found Dec. 26 in a Kia Optima. An unborn baby was also found dead in the car. The victims had been shot.
The search began for the couple after their families became alarmed when Soto failed to show up for an appointment on Saturday to have her labor induced.
Now, San Antonio police have arrested and charged two people in connection with the deaths.
Chilling images released by police on Thursday captured the couple's Kia Optima and a dark-coloured pick-up truck with a bed cover. Police said one person of interest was driving the Kia Optima and the other was driving the pickup.
Many questions remain about the circumstances that led to their disappearance and deaths. Here's what we know so far.
When did the couple go missing?
Soto was last seen on December 22 at the Valencia Lofts apartment complex in Leon Valley, a city in Bexar County, Texas. According to relatives, the teen lived there with Guerra, the father of her child.
She was described by police as a pregnant woman, 6 feet tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Her family became concerned when she failed to show up for a hospital appointment the next few days. She was a week past her due date and would undergo an induced delivery, the family told the local station KENS TV.
Her mother, Gloria Cordova, said she last heard from her daughter Friday afternoon and received no answer when she knocked on her apartment door Saturday afternoon.
Ms Cordova added that she had also been unable to contact Guerra since her daughter's disappearance.
Leon Valley police issued a CLEAR Alert for Soto on Monday and later said her boyfriend was also missing. Soto's family organized a search of the area surrounding her apartment on Christmas Eve.
"Savanah was so happy because she was going to be a mom. It breaks my heart," her mother said KENS TV.
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Where were they found?
The pair was reportedly found dead in a parked car in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, December 26.
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 news conference that the bodies may have been there for three or four days.
Who are the suspects?
Police have arrested two people in connection with the deaths.
Christopher Preciado, 19, was arrested and charged with murder, while his father, 53-year-old Ramon Preciado, was charged with abuse of a corpse for helping his son move the bodies, police said.
Police Officer Washington Moscoso added that Ramon did not participate in the killings.
He said more charges related to the unborn baby are possible.
The suspects were tracked down after a key piece of evidence was found on Ms. Soto's cell phone, which pointed authorities to the possible location of the pickup, and ultimately to the home of the two suspects.
Are the deaths suspicious?
While an exact motive for the killings has not yet been determined, Sergeant Moscoso said it apparently involved a drug deal gone wrong.
On Thursday, police released a video during a news conference that captured two people of interest in connection with the killings.
In the video, a dark-colored pickup truck with a bed cover is seen pulling into a parking lot in San Antonio.
The couple's Kia Optima is seen driving and coming to a stop next to the truck.
Police said one person of interest was driving the Kia Optima and the other was driving the pickup.
One of the persons of interest is seen exiting the pickup and approaching the driver's side of the victim's car, appearing to speak to the person inside.
The second person of interest is then seen exiting the driver's side of the Kia Optima.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters that none of the victims are visible in the footage.
The police chief would not confirm whether or not the video was captured before or after the killings.
It is unclear whether the suspects were previously known to the victims.
Relatives of the couple have also offered conflicting theories about what might have happened.
Soto's sister-in-law claimed she was abused. "I will not allow you to be one of those statistics of what happens when you have an abusive boyfriend," she wrote on social media, in a post seen by The New York Post.
Her mother also posted on Facebook: "I'm worried about her safety [with] her friend who is not well.
But according to the NYPost 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
This is not the first time 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 the other," Gloria Cordova said KENS.
"It still hurts because what I tell my children, I'm not complete, I'm not complete, and now I don't have my daughter," she said.
In October, the man accused of killing Ethan Soto was beaten in court. According to The daily email Footage allegedly showed members of the Soto family launching themselves at him as he took the stand.
The footage showed several people jumping over a partition and throwing punches at the man - who reportedly gestured towards the group.
Earlier this week, Mariana Delgado, Savanah Soto's sister-in-law, wrote on Facebook: "It should be the most wonderful time of the year, but it's not the WORST.
"We are doing our best to give my daughter a good Christmas but it is so hard to want to be happy but we are just heartbroken. Savanah and baby Fabian should celebrate with us, this is not fair."
In a separate post, Ms. Delgado later asked the family to be allowed to grieve.
