Missing mom, 3-year-old son found dead in ditch amid custody battle

A Texas sheriff's office said the case may be a murder-suicide after authorities found a firearm near their bodies.

A missing mom and son were found dead Tuesday ahead of a custody hearing over the child, and authorities say they believe it could be a murder-suicide.

Texas' Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar shared the update on what was a missing persons case and is now being handled as a homicide during a press conference at Tom Slick Park. Hours earlier, a park police officer had found the bodies of Savannah and Kaiden Kriger in a ditch that ran behind the park, Salazar said.

The discovery came after a night of searching for the 32-year-old and her 3-year-old son. Salazar said the pair were last seen at 2 p.m. leaving the child's day care center. Savannah had left work early to pick him up to take him to a doctor's appointment, the sheriff's office said.

Then around 6:30 p.m., family members had requested officials perform a welfare check at the mom and son's residence after Savannah's phone kept going to voicemail and her location services were turned off, Salazar said. But when officials arrived at the home, they found no vehicle and weren't able to get in until a relative gained them entry, the sheriff said.