On March 19, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas, authorities discovered Savannah Kriger, 32, and her three-year-old son, Kaiden, dead with gunshot wounds in a local park. Their deaths occurred amid a contentious custody dispute, shedding light on a series of events that concluded in what officials have determined to be a murder-suicide.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar detailed the timeline leading up to the grim discovery during a press conference on May 2, 2024. According to Salazar, Kriger left her job at around 12:49 p.m. on March 18. She broke into her ex-husband’s home while he was out, damaging his personal belongings.
She then returned to her home, where she discharged a firearm through her wedding dress and through two portraits from the marriage, which had been placed on a bed. The sheriff noted that shell casings from these shots matched those found at the scene in the park.
Investigators later uncovered the gun near the bodies, found in a drainage ditch, linking it to the event.
In addition, Kriger withdrew Kaiden from his daycare later that day and sent over messages to her ex-husband. Amongst these was a text message instructing him to “Say goodbye to your son.” Salazar also mentioned a video by Kriger that hinted at her subsequent actions.
On May 1, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Kriger’s death had been ruled a suicide and Kaiden’s a homicide, with both suffering a gunshot wound to the head as the cause.
The sheriff suggested that Kriger and her son were deceased for several hours before a welfare check initiated an investigation on March 18. This led authorities to issue an AMBER Alert for the missing mother and son.
Salazar highlighted that Kaiden was at the center of a custody dispute, which had taken a serious turn. The situation was complicated further by the fact that Kriger was scheduled to appear in court for a custody hearing about her son the day after their bodies were found.
The ongoing investigation aims to answer this incident’s many questions, seeking clarity and closure for those affected.
