Texas mother sent text to ex-husband saying, 'Say goodbye to your son' before killing boy
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Before a Texas mother killed her 3-year-old son and herself, she recorded a 21-second video seated at the drainage ditch where their bodies were found and sent a text message to her ex-husband saying," Say goodbye to your son," police said.
Bexar County sheriff's deputies discovered Savannah Samantha Kriger's and her son Kaiden's bodies on March 19 in a ditch near Tom Slick Park in San Antonio. At the time of the discovery, Kriger was considered the only suspect.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar confirmed during a news conference on May 1 that Kriger's manner of death was deemed a suicide, and Kaiden's death was ruled a homicide. The sheriff then reconstructed the timeline of events leading up to the murder-suicide.
Savannah Kriger 'damaged various items' in ex-husband's home, sheriff says
Kriger and Kaiden were reported missing on March 18 after the 32-year-old mother was last seen leaving her job early to pick up her son from daycare for a doctor's appointment, according to the sheriff's office. Salazar said Kriger left her parking garage around 12:49 p.m. on the day of her disappearance and traveled in her 2023 Lincoln Aviator 7.9 miles to her ex-husband's house.
When Kriger entered her ex-husband's home, Salazar said she "damaged various items," including personal clothing, furniture and other miscellaneous things like towels. While Kriger was inside the house, her ex-husband was "at his place of employment, which is an auto dealership," the sheriff said.
Savannah Kriger shot wedding portraits, sheriff says
Kriger would leave her ex-husband's home at 1:57 p.m. and return to her residence, according to Salazar. Sheriff's deputies who entered Kriger's home the following day for a welfare check noticed wedding dresses laid out and two wedding portraits with bullet holes in them on a bed, Salazar said.
"We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits," the sheriff said. "It should be noted that the shell casings found in the residence... match the shell casings found at the crime scene."
Savannah Kriger sent final text message to ex-husband
After shooting the wedding portraits, Kriger left her home around 2:18 p.m. and arrived at Kaiden's daycare at 2:32 p.m., Salazar said. Surveillance video shows Kriger checking Kaden out of the daycare and loading him into the rear passenger seat of the Lincoln Aviator, the sheriff added.
Kriger left the daycare at 2:46 p.m. and she made a FaceTime call to her ex-husband. The ex-husband uses another phone to record the call, which catches Kriger saying, "You don't have anything to go home to now... and you won't have anything at all at the end of the day," Salazar said.
The Lincoln Aviator then traveled 7.9 miles to Tom Slick Park, and as Kriger and Kaiden arrived, her ex-husband called 911 to report "criminal mischief," according to Salazar. Kriger attempted to FaceTime her ex-husband again at 3:19 p.m., and when he did not answer, she sent her final text message to him which said, "Say goodbye to your son," the sheriff said.
'It's pretty obvious what's about to happen'
Once Kriger's ex-husband didn't answer another FaceTime call at 3:21 p.m., she recorded a 21-second video showing her and Kaiden sitting at the drainage ditch where their bodies were found, Salazar said. In the video, Kriger tells Kaiden to say "goodbye to daddy," apologizes to her son for "daddy not being there" and then kisses him, the sheriff added.
"There's nothing graphic about the video, except for the fact that now knowing what we know about what happened in the moments thereafter," according to Salazar. "It's pretty obvious what's about to happen in the video."
San Antonio police met Kriger's ex-husband at his home at 3:37 p.m. to take the criminal mischief report, which led to authorities conducting an unsuccessful search on March 18, Salazar said. The next day, Kriger's and Kaiden's bodies were found at the park during daylight, the sheriff continued.
Savannah Kriger legally bought gun from friend, sheriff says
A gun was also found at the crime scene, which Salazar said Kriger legally bought from a friend who had purchased the firearm from a sporting goods store.
"It was a legal gun," according to the sheriff. "It was hers."
Salazar said he doesn't think this tragedy could have been prevented because the sheriff's office didn't get called into the search until around 7 p.m., and he believes Kriger and Kaiden had already been dead for "several hours."
"To those that are hesitant to call for a welfare check, I don't think there's any reason that you should ever be hesitant," the sheriff said. "... In an abundance of caution, always call. That's what we're there for. We would rather you call and it'd be nothing and we find out everything is OK versus not calling and then wishing for the rest of your life that you had called."
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]