Melissa and Johnny Soto: Missing California parents’ bodies found in car outside casino in apparent murder-suicide

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: The bodies of the San Diego parents whose mysterious disappearance five days before Christmas worried their adult children were found near the Mexican border in an apparent murder-suicide.

Johnny, 52, and 45-year-old Melissa Soto disappeared from their San Diego house on the evening of Wednesday, December 20, as per reports.

Police find dead bodies of missing parents near Casino

On Tuesday, December 26, US Customs and Border Patrol found a car parked in the parking lot of the Golden Acorn Casino in Campo, California with the bodies of a man who had suffered a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” to the head and a woman who died of “undetermined injuries,” San Diego police said in a  press release.

As the apparent murder-suicide investigation continued, the two dead bodies were confirmed to be the Sotos by NBC 7 San Diego.

The devastating discovery was made after the couple's children were shocked by their disappearance and became concerned that something terrible had happened to them.

“It felt like a normal night,” Vincent, the youngest son, said about the night the couple, whose marriage was in disarray, vanished. He added, “[Johnny] was just sitting here watching TV, like he always does.”

“And my parents, they always talk,” he continued. “He asked me, ‘Hey, Vinny, can you leave for a minute? We’re going to talk.’ So I left the house, not assuming anything.”

After they had left the house, Vinny's father texted him around two hours later to let him know it was safe to return. According to the affiliate, that was the last time anyone had seen them.

Hours passed, and the couple, who reportedly separated in July after 20 years of marriage, never returned. “We all had high hopes that they would at least come back for Christmas,” Alexia Soto, the couple’s oldest daughter, told the outlet.

'They left with nothing'

The children contacted their aunt Christina Sandoval in addition to calling the police. The parents had left with nothing, according to Sandoval. “They left with no clothes,” she said. “They left with nothing. All his clothes that he wears normally, like the sweats, [were] there in the bedroom. Her phone was left here. Her wallet was left here. Her keys were left here, and then his phone was turned off about 15 to 20 minutes after he left.”

Their final moments at the residence were filmed by a neighbor's doorbell camera. Raymond Arzola, a neighbor, says that Melissa's car pulled into the driveway at around 8.50 pm, and someone got out. “You could tell it’s most likely a man because of the jeans and the blue jacket,” he told NBC. “I usually see Johnny wear a blue jacket.”

About an hour and a half later, her car pulls out of the driveway, and then parks in reverse. Another neighbor’s surveillance video showed the garage door and car trunk open shortly after. Johnny went back and forth to the car at about 10.30 pm before driving off. The disappearance was definitely out of the ordinary for a couple who still got along despite their marital problems, family members said.

"Even though they were separated, there were like no issues between them at all,” Alexia Soto said. “They were still in contact. They still talked. She would come over [to Johnny’s house] and talk.”