The bodies of a California couple who vanished five days before Christmas were found Tuesday in a vehicle at a casino parking lot in Campo, dead from an apparent murder-suicide.
The San Diego Police Department said that officers from US Customs and Border Patrol found “a vehicle that was associated with a missing persons case from San Ysidro” with a man and a woman inside dead inside.
“Her death is being investigated as a homicide with her husband as the lone suspect in what appears to be a tragic case of domestic violence,” SDPD Lt. Steve Shebloski said in a news release.
Police did not provide the names of the victims “pending additional family notifications, but family members told KNSD that they were Johnny, 52, and Melissa Soto, 45, who disappeared on December 20.
“Detectives have been investigating this incident since the male and female were reported missing by family members last week,” Shebloski said. ‘The initial investigation indicated the male and female were missing under suspicious circumstances. The exact nature of what occurred and why they were missing is still under investigation.”
Shebloski said Johnny Soto was found with a single gunshot wound to the head. His wife’s injuries weren’t obvious, and her cause of death will be determined by the coroner, he said.
The Sotos had separated in July after more than 20 years of marriage, relatives said.
Neighbors security cameras caught suspicious activity on the night they disappeared — Melissa Soto’s car pulling into the driveway, then minutes later pulling out and backing in; the garage door and trunk of her car open; Johnny Soto apparently leaving in his truck, as CrimeOnline reported.
Their youngest son, Vincent Soto, was the last to see them. He’d been at the house when his father asked him to leave for a while because “We’re going to talk.” He thought nothing of it, he said, and came back about an hour and a half later, when his father texted that they’d left the house for now.
They never returned. Vincent and his older siblings, Elise and Alexia, called police the next morning. Johnny Soto took his wallet and phone with him, but Melissa’s wallet and phone were still in the house.
“We all had high hopes that they would at least come back for Christmas,” Alexia Soto said.
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[Featured image: Melissa Soto and Johnny Soto/Facebook]
