A San Diego couple who disappeared just days before Christmas were found dead in a car. She is being investigated as a murder-suicide after disturbing footage from a Ring camera showed the night she disappeared.
Melissa, 45, and Johnny Soto, 52, went missing from their home in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego on Wednesday, December 20th. The couple, who were married for 20 years and have three adult children, recently separated.
San Diego police announced Wednesday that they conducted a search with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and found a car “connected to the disappearance.”
They did not identify the bodies, saying only that they were a 52-year-old Hispanic man and a 45-year-old Filipino woman who “lived separately.”
Authorities believe her death was a murder-suicide, in which the man shot the woman before killing himself.
Scroll down for the video:
Melissa and Johnny Soto disappeared from their home on Wednesday and their three children are now asking the public for help. The couple (seen at left) recently split and their relationship has been rocky, but they were last seen leaving Johnny's San Ysidro home together
Ring camera footage taken last week added to the uncertainty when it showed Melissa's car pulling into the couple's driveway on the night they disappeared. It starts at 8:51 p.m. and within an hour and a half, the mother of three's car leaves the driveway and reverses back into parking
Ring camera footage shows Melissa pulling into the driveway of her estranged husband's home at around 8:51 p.m. on the night of her disappearance, while Johnny, who had attended a work holiday party, returns in his truck about an hour later.
The couple's son, Vincent, said his father then sat down with him to watch TV. However, a few minutes later, Vincent was asked by his father to leave the house.
Over the next 15 minutes, Melissa's car can be seen leaving the driveway – only to reverse back into park. A neighbor's security camera shows the garage door and trunk of Melissa's car opening about six minutes later, and John's truck is nowhere to be found.
The couple's children are now worried after Melissa left her wallet and other personal items behind.
Vincent, who was the last to see the couple, told NBC San Diego that it “felt like a normal night.”
'[My dad] just sat here and watched TV like he always does. And my parents are always talking.
“He asked me, 'Hey, Vinny, can you go for a second?' We will talk. “So I left the house without accepting anything,” he said.
Vincent said he left the house for about an hour and a half before he received a text message from his father telling him they had left and the coast was clear.
Another neighbor's security camera shows that six minutes later both the garage door and the trunk open. Nothing remained in it. Meanwhile, Johnny's truck has gone missing and it appears footage shows him returning to work from a Christmas party
Melissa – seen here with her three children – came to his house afterwards for a chat but has not been seen since
Vincent, who was left, was the last person to see the couple, and recalled to NBC San Diego on Tuesday how he left his parents' house for about an hour and a half so they could be alone – before returning and a Got a text from him Dad said they had left and the coast was clear
However, neither he nor his sisters Alexia and Elise have heard from him since then. The couple also did not show up at their respective workplaces.
Since then, a search has taken place, with the siblings saying that their parents don't care to leave and not come back.
“He and my mom like to talk and hang out,” Vincent told ABC 10 – while also revealing that the couple had a somewhat rocky relationship and recently split after 20 years.
“As they talked, they liked to drive off in the truck,” he continued, pointing out that it wasn't unusual for the couple to drive off in his father's silver Tacoma truck.
'[Johnny] When he called me he said: “Hey Vincent, let’s go to the truck for a moment,” he recalled.
“That was the last time I heard from him.”
The family has since filed a report with the local police department and so far, a week into their investigation, surveillance camera footage serves as the only real clue.
In it, Melissa's car can be seen driving several cars into the driveway at 8:51 p.m
The couple also failed to show up at the Christmas party or at their respective workplaces after allegedly driving away
The family has since filed a report with the local police department, and so far the surveillance camera footage is the only real clue
“You see someone getting out of the car,” said neighbor Raymond Arzola, citing the clip captured by a camera stationed at his nearby home.
“You could most likely tell from the jeans and blue jacket that it was a man,” he added. “I usually see Johnny wearing a blue jacket.”
Then, at 10:19 p.m., Melissa's car pulls out of the driveway and then backs into park.
About 14 minutes later, the same man can be seen getting into his silver Toyota after performing the parking maneuver in Melissa's car – before driving off around 10:33 p.m.
In this clip, Melissa is conspicuously absent, even though her car is parked in the driveway for about 15 minutes.
“My dad had his phone and his wallet, but my mom didn’t have her phone, her wallet or her keys,” said Alexia Soto, the oldest.
“Even though they were separated, there were almost no problems between them,” she added of the couple's strained relationship, which she and her siblings said took a turn in July.
“They were still in touch,” she said, noting that her mother still regularly visited the couple’s old home.
“They were still talking. She would come over [to Johnny’s house] and speak.'
has reached out to the San Diego Police Department for an update on their investigation.
Meanwhile, has reached out to San Diego police for an update on their investigation, as relatives revealed that Melissa left her phone and wallet behind
Footage released by the family further fuels their unease, showing who many believe to be Johnny walking around the crime scene without his wife, and someone appearing to fiddle with their vehicle before Johnny's truck drives off.
Aunt Christina Sandoval further noted on Tuesday that the couple “left with no clothes on,” telling the local NBC affiliate, “[they] left with nothing. All of his clothes that he normally wears, like the sweatpants there in the bedroom.
“Your phone was left here.” “Your wallet was left here,” she continued, as the search for the couple continued Wednesday.
“Her keys were left here and then his phone was turned off about 15 to 20 minutes after he left here.”
Despite the multitude of threatening signs, the siblings told news channels they are staying strong.
“We've always had a really strong sibling dynamic,” Alexia, 23, told NBC 7.
“No matter what happens, we always make sure we look out for each other.”
Sandoval, meanwhile, has started a GoFundMe to help the family with “food and any bills” and all three are asking the public to contact them or the police with any tips that might help them find their parents .
Meanwhile, two of the siblings left an emotional message for their mother and father as police continued to look for them, telling them to contact them as soon as possible if they were listening.
“Even if they've gone somewhere and plan to stay out for a while, at least text or call one of us to let all of us know they're both OK,” Alexia said.
Elise added, “And that we love her.”
Meanwhile, the officers' search is still ongoing. Both Sotos were declared missing.