A San Antonio mother fired a gun at her wedding photos and made her son say “goodbye to daddy” before fatally shooting the child and turning the weapon on herself.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that when officers responded to the woman’s house during the March incident they found her wedding dresses laid out on the bed and bullet holes in her wedding portraits.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled the deaths of Savannah Kriger, 32, and her son Kaiden, three, a suicide and homicide.
The sheriff’s office says that the woman left her job around 1pm CT on 18 March in a 2023 Lincoln Navigator and went to her ex-husband’s residence in southeast San Antonio. Sheriff Salazar said that the woman entered the home and damaged various items of personal clothing, furniture items and miscellaneous items inside the residence.
The ex-husband, who was not identified by officials, was believed to be at his place of employment at the time of the incident. The woman then left the man’s residence and went to her home.
The couple were in the process of getting divorced and a custody hearing was scheduled for the day the mother and son died. The woman later left that residence to pick up her child from daycare.
She then FaceTimed her ex-husband around 2.46pm CT and told him “You don’t have anything to go home to now. You really don’t.. and you won’t have anything at all at the end of the day”. The man then contacted the sheriff’s office to make a criminal mischief report.
Investigators say that the woman then took her son to the Tom Slick Park in San Antonio.
Kriger then attempted to FaceTime her ex-husband again. She then sent a text message stating “Say goodbye to your son”, according to the sheriff’s office.
Kriger made another attempt to call her ex-husband minutes later. When the man did not pick up the phone, she recorded a video from a drainage ditch with her son in which she told the child to “say goodbye to daddy” and apologised to the child for his father not being there.
Authorities found the bodies of both Kriger and her child 19 hours later at the drainage ditch.
Both of the bodies had gunshot wounds. Sheriff Salazar said he could not speculate on what he thought the outcome of the custody hearing would be but noted that the mother “could’ve lost custody of the child”.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
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