Mom made 3-year-old son say ‘goodbye to daddy’ on camera before shooting boy dead in murder-suicide

A custody dispute in San Antonio ended in unthinkable tragedy in March 2024, when 32-year-old Savannah Kriger and her 3-year-old son, Kaiden, were found dead in a drainage ditch behind Tom Slick Park on the city’s West Side. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled Kaiden’s death a homicide and Savannah’s a suicide, with investigators concluding she shot her son before turning the gun on herself.

According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, the sequence of events began on the afternoon of March 18. Kriger, who was due in court the next morning for a custody hearing, left work early and drove to her estranged husband’s home in southeast San Antonio. He was at work at the time. Inside the residence, deputies say she damaged his clothing, furniture, and other belongings before leaving.

From there, the situation deteriorated. Kriger returned to her own home, where investigators later found her wedding dress laid out and her wedding portraits riddled with bullet holes. She had picked Kaiden up early from his daycare — Children’s Lighthouse Alamo Ranch — under the stated reason of a doctor’s appointment, and that was the last time the pair were seen alive.

In the hours that followed, Kriger sent her ex-husband a series of threatening messages, including a final text that read “say goodbye to your son.” When relatives could not reach her — her phone was going straight to voicemail and her location services were switched off — a welfare check was attempted at her home that evening. Her vehicle was later found abandoned at Tom Slick Park, and an Amber Alert was issued for Kaiden early the next morning.

Court records reviewed in the aftermath complicate any simple reading of the case. According to My San Antonio, Kriger had filed for divorce on March 7 and sought a protective order against her husband, alleging in court filings a history of abuse and stating that she feared for her own life and her son’s. She had also, according to the records, expressed suicidal thoughts in the weeks before her death. A judge had ordered that Kaiden be brought to the courtroom the morning the Amber Alert went out.

Among the most disturbing pieces of evidence was a short video recovered from Kriger’s phone. In the roughly 21-second clip, she is seated with Kaiden in the same ditch where their bodies would later be found, telling the boy to “say goodbye to daddy.” Kaiden offers a small, strained response, notes that his father is not there, and gives a kiss. The footage does not capture the shootings, but investigators believe it speaks to Kriger’s state of mind in her final hours.

Park police found the bodies the following morning. With the medical examiner’s ruling, a contested custody case that had moved through divorce filings, protective-order requests, and a looming hearing came to a devastating close — leaving an extended family, and a community, searching for answers. The case is part of The AEGIS Alliance’s broader crime news coverage.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Lifeline is free, confidential, and available 24/7.