'Say goodbye to your son': Texas mom texts ex before killing 3-year-old son, herself
She also sent a 21-second video seated in the drainage ditch where their bodies were found.
Brandi D. AddisonEditor's note: If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to reach someone with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. They're available 24 hours a day and provide services in multiple languages.
Bexar County sheriff's deputies discovered the bodies of Savannah Samantha Kriger and her 3-year-old son, Kaiden, in a San Antonio ditch on March 19.
Leading up to the murder-suicide, according to police, Kriger recorded a 21-second video seated at the drainage ditch near where their bodies were found outside Tom Slick Park, along with a text message to her ex-husband that read: "Say goodbye to your son."
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has reconstructed the timeline of events leading up to the murder-suicide, USA TODAY reported.
Damaged property and wedding portraits with bullet holes
Both Kriger, 32, and Kaiden were reported missing March 18 after she left her job early to take him to a doctor's appointment, the sheriff's office detailed during a May 1 news conference.
Kriger parking garage around 12:49 p.m. on the day of their disappearance and drove 7.9 miles to her ex-husband's house in San Antonio, where Salazar said she "damaged various items," including clothing and furniture, while he was at work.
Approximately an hour later, she left her ex-husband's house and returned to her own home, where sheriff's deputies — during a welfare check the following day — discovered wedding dresses and two wedding portraits with bullet holes on the bed.
"We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits," Salazar said during the news conference. "It should be noted that the shell casings found in the residence ... match the shell casings found at the crime scene."
'Say goodbye to your son': Savannah Kriger sent final text message to ex-husband
Kriger left her home around 2:18 p.m. and arrived at Kaiden's day care facility at 2:32 p.m., according to the sheriff's office. Surveillance video from the day care site shows the mother checking him out of facility and loading him into the rear passenger seat of her Lincoln Aviator.
She left the day care site at 2:46 p.m. and made a FaceTime call to her ex-husband, who used another phone to record the call, according to the sheriff's office. In the video, Kriger said, "You don't have anything to go home to now ... and you won't have anything at all at the end of the day."
She drove about 8 miles to Tom Slick Park in western San Antonio, and, as they arrived, her ex-husband called 911 to report criminal mischief, USA TODAY reported. She attempted to FaceTime her ex-husband again at 3:19 p.m., and when he did not answer, she sent her final text message to him which read, "Say goodbye to your son," according to the sheriff.
At 3:21 p.m., she recorded a 21-second video showing her and Kaiden at the drainage ditch where their bodies were found. In the video, Kriger tells Kaiden to say "goodbye to Daddy" and apologizes to her son for "Daddy not being there" before kissing the 3-year-old, the sheriff said.
"There's nothing graphic about the video, except for the fact that now knowing what we know about what happened in the moments thereafter," Salazar said in the release. "It's pretty obvious what's about to happen in the video."
San Antonio police met Kriger's ex-husband at his home at 3:37 p.m. to take the criminal mischief report, which led to authorities conducting an unsuccessful search March 18, Salazar said. The next day, Kriger's and Kaiden's bodies were found at the park.
Savannah Kriger legally bought gun from friend, sheriff says
According to the sheriff's office, Kriger legally purchased her firearm from a friend, who had bought the gun from a sporting goods store.
"It was a legal gun," according to the sheriff. "It was hers."
The sheriff said he does not believe his office could have prevented the tragedy since they weren't called into the search until around 7 p.m., and the mother and son had likely been dead for several hours.
"To those that are hesitant to call for a welfare check, I don't think there's any reason that you should ever be hesitant," the sheriff said. "In an abundance of caution, always call. That's what we're there for. We would rather you call and it'd be nothing and we find out everything is OK versus not calling and then wishing for the rest of your life that you had called."
USA TODAY reporter Jonathan Limehouse contributed to this report.