An estranged couple who used to live with their family in Pleasanton and were reported missing before Christmas by their children in San Diego have been declared dead in what investigators initially determine to be a murder-suicide.
The bodies of Melissa Domingo Soto and Johnny Soto were found on Dec. 26 inside a vehicle in the parking lot of a casino about an hour east of San Diego, authorities confirmed later in the week.
San Diego police Lt. Steve Shebloski said the 52-year-old man appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while the 45-year-old woman died from strangulation, “a homicide with her husband as the lone suspect in what appears to be a tragic case of domestic violence.”
Melissa Soto and Johnny Soto, who separated in July, were originally reported missing under suspicious circumstances from the San Ysidro neighborhood since the night of Dec. 20, their three children told NBC 7 San Diego in an interview around Christmas in a push to raise awareness and locate their parents. News coverage of their mysterious disappearance and the jarring conclusion a week later has resulted in headlines in national and international publications.
The family previously resided in Pleasanton before relocating to Southern California about five years ago, with their children attending local schools at the time including the eldest graduating from Foothill High School.
Shebloski said the San Diego Police Department’s Southern Division had been investigating the case for nearly a week after family members reported Melissa Soto and Johnny Soto as missing. They were described as a married couple living separately in San Ysidro, the southernmost district of San Diego near the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The exact nature of what occurred and why they were missing is still under investigation,” Shebloski said in a press release. “There was likely a domestic violence incident prior to them being reported missing.”
Then at approximately 12:25 p.m. Dec. 26, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents located a vehicle associated with the Soto case in the parking lot of the Golden Acorn Casino & Travel Center along Interstate 8 in Campo, about 65 miles east of San Ysidro. A man and a woman — later identified as Johnny Soto and Melissa Soto — were deceased inside the vehicle, according to Shebloski.
San Diego PD confirmed the discovery on Dec. 27 and then publicly identified Melissa Soto and Johnny Soto, as well as her cause of death, during the next morning. The case remains under investigation, and anyone with information can call the department’s homicide unit at 619-531-2293.
—Jeremy Walsh
In other news
* California Highway Patrol officers continue their investigation into a devastating wreck that killed three family members and injured five others on Interstate 680 in the Tri-Valley two weeks ago.The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau confirmed the three women who died were 62-year-old Josefa Chagolla, 26-year-old Evangelina Valenzuela-Chagolla and 21-year-old Johnessa Espinoza — all of Sacramento.
Family members said on social media that Josefa “Joanne” Chagolla was the grandmother of Espinoza and “Evee” Valenzuela-Chagolla, who was the mother of four young children.
They were among eight people, reportedly all extended family members, traveling inside a 2004 Honda Pilot that crashed amid rainy conditions on southbound I-680 between Sunol and Pleasanton just after 2:30 p.m. Dec. 18.
The driver, who has not been identified publicly, told investigators that the SUV experienced a tire blowout, which led to it veering to the left, riding up the jersey wall and then traveling out-of-control to the right across all of the lanes before clipping the sloped curb edge of the freeway, going airborne, broadsiding a tree and coming to rest down an embankment, according to the CHP.
Valenzuela-Chagolla and Espinoza died at the scene, while Chagolla succumbed to her injuries later that afternoon at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, according to the coroner’s bureau.
The CHP reported that the two women who died at the crash site had not been wearing seatbelts, nor was another woman who survived the wreck with major injuries.
The driver and another adult passenger sustained minor injuries, as did two babies who were in the SUV during the crash, according to the CHP.
CHP-Dublin Officer Tyler Hahn told the Weekly on Monday that the crash remains under investigation and the results of mechanical analysis — to confirm the reported tire blowout — were among the key aspects still pending. Investigators said at the time that drugs or alcohol were not considered factors.
—Jeremy Walsh
