LAGO VISTA, Texas — A Lago Vista woman has been charged with tampering with a corpse after police found the buried body of a person believed to be her 16-year-old son.
According to an affidavit obtained by KVUE, just before 9 a.m. on March 10, officers with the Lago Vista Police Department were dispatched to 20704 Bonanza St. #C to assist a Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator with a welfare check for a bed-bound, physically and mentally handicapped 16-year-old boy. The investigator reported that the boy had not had proper medical attention since 2021.
The investigator also said that she made contact with the boy's 18-year-old sister, who first said she didn't know where her brother was. The sister told the investigator that she could enter the residence before quickly changing her mind and telling the investigator to wait while she called her mother, later identified as 34-year-old Veronica Soriano.
When the sister returned to the door, she told the investigator that her brother was in Georgia, according to the affidavit. The investigator told officers on the scene that Soriano had told CPS that she drove her son to Georgia alone. The investigator said that couldn't have happened because the boy would need constant care and Soriano would have needed help to care for him. The officers attempted to obtain permission to enter the residence from the boy's sister, but she refused.
The officers then left the home and the CPS investigator said she would wait for Soriano to return.
Shortly after noon the same day, the investigator again called the police, specifically requesting information on a death that may have occurred in Lago Vista. According to the affidavit, a brief discussion was had about procedures and protocols for reported deaths. It was determined that a death had not been reported that involved a 16-year-old boy. During the conversation, police learned that Soriano had called her work supervisor at the City of Lago Vista's Public Works Department on Feb. 26, to report that her son had died and she was frantic.
A text message was later sent by the wife of Soriano's supervisor to another City employee, asking if someone passed away in Lago Vista, would the police department know about it. The message also specifically mentioned Soriano reporting that her son had died.
At 1:18 p.m. on March 10, CPS again requested police respond to Soriano's home. Officers who responded were told Soriano did allow CPS into her residence when she got home, leading them through the house, to specific rooms, and then back outside. CPS did not check bathrooms, closets or one bedroom with a closed door.
Soriano gave CPS the number of a "grandfather" to call and verify that her son was with him. CPS made the call and a man answered, identified himself as the boy's grandfather and said the boy was with him. CPS called local law enforcement in Georgia to conduct a welfare check at the alleged grandfather's residence, and it was confirmed that the boy was not there. The grandfather told Georgia law enforcement that Soriano had told him her son died a week ago and she was going to have his body cremated.
Lago Vista officers knocked on the front door of Soriano's home but received no answer. A short time later, Soriano called CPS and said she was driving and not ready to talk about her son. According to the affidavit, over the course of several phone conversations, police heard Soriano say things like, "My son is dead," "I haven't accepted it yet" and "I'm not ready to talk about it." They also heard her say she came home from the store with her 3-year-old child, checked on her 16-year-old son and found him unresponsive. She did not say where he was.
CPS contacted Soriano's father, who told the agency that Soriano told him her son died a week ago and that she was going to have him cremated. He said Soriano told him her son was "buried under a tree in a park."
Police entered Soriano's home without a warrant because it was unclear if "a 16-year-old, physically/mentally handicapped child may be in the home, either in need of medical attention or deceased," according to the affidavit. A search was conducted, and it was determined the boy was not there. His clothing, personal items and photos of him had also been removed from the room that CPS identified as belonging to him.
Out of concern for the welfare of Soriano and her 3-year-old child, surrounding law enforcement agencies were made aware of the car Soriano was driving at the time. Her son was entered into a database as "missing/endangered."
At around 2:45 p.m. on March 10, Georgetown Police Department officers located Soriano in her vehicle in Georgetown. Officers noted that her car contained shovels, a pickax and had blood on its interior. Soriano was taken to the Lago Vista Police Department, where officers attempted to interview her. She would only state that her son was dead and that she wished to speak in the presence of an attorney once she received mental health assistance, according to the affidavit.
The following day, March 11, CPS informed police that it had received a "Google Map photo" with an email indicating Soriano had told her attorney that her son was buried at the location pictured. The location was identified as an empty lot in the 6400 block of Marshall's Point Cove.
A search of that property revealed a pile of dirt that had been freshly moved and rocks placed on top of the pile and an open spot nearby, where a small amount of the ground had been dug up. Police received permission from the property owner to search and dig on the property. The search resulted in police uncovering the body of a deceased male in the late stages of decomposition, covered in a white, powdery, chalky substance and surrounded by charcoal and wood chips.
Between March 11 and March 31, police obtained search warrants for Soriano's car, cellphones and computers. Two shovels, a pickax, an empty charcoal bag and other items were found in her car. Text messages sent between Soriano and her daughter from Feb. 25 through March 10 revealed conversations about Soriano's son's death, where and how to bury him, obtaining shovels and charcoal and what to tell CPS, including suggesting that Soriano took her son to Georgia.
The affidavit states that Soriano also told her daughter that they couldn't tell police about her son's death because it would look like neglect and they would be "jailed." In one conversation, Soriano suggested a City-owned property as a place to bury her son.
The text messages were deleted from Soriano's phone on March 10, the day CPS and police attempted to check on her son, according to the affidavit.
Police also found Feb. 25 searches on Soriano's phone about burials, cremations and funerals, including "home burials" and "home cremations for pets." Other digital data showed that after Feb. 24, Soriano's phone was in the area of the gravesite on Marshall's Point Cove seven times.
"So on examining the cell phone, getting a warrant and examining her cellphone, we found multiple text messages that indicated that, you know, her son had passed away and she had buried the body, along with searches for home cremation and things like that," Lago Vista Police Chief Gary Boshears said. "The whole thing, it's very unique, it's very odd. It's not something we deal with all the time, obviously."
An autopsy was performed on the recovered body and the cause of death is still pending, though police believe the body is that of Soriano's son.
According to Travis County Jail records, Soriano was booked on July 17 on a charge of "tamper/fabricate physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse," a second-degree felony. She is booked on a $25,000 bond.
KVUE spoke to a neighbor of Soriano's named Janie who did not wish to be fully identified. She claims to have observed something suspicious happening in the home next door.
"I got a phone call from my husband saying there was some stuff going on across the street and that the police had gotten there, and then two women had pulled up in a couple other cars and they blocked everything off and wouldn't let nobody in that complex area," Janie said.
KVUE reached out to the City of Lago Vista for a comment about Soriano's arrest. Police confirmed Soriano was terminated by the City after the warrant was issued for her arrest.
Soriano's defense attorney, Wade Russell, said the case is not what it appears to be from the charges, and he believes Soriano has a reasonable defense. He did not elaborated on what that defense is, but he said they are going to present on her behalf.