Overview
- San Antonio police arrested 34-year-old Marlene Vidal on Friday after a passerby reported a burning white Hyundai with two children inside on the city’s West Side.
- Assistant Chief Jesse Salame said suspect statements, surveillance video, and evidence from the scene indicate she acted alone.
- Vidal was booked into the Bexar County jail Friday night on two counts of capital murder of a child under 10 and one count of arson, with bail set at $1 million per murder charge and $50,000 for arson.
- The Medical Examiner has not confirmed the victims’ identities, though relatives named them as Aleeza, 6, and Adrian, 5, and said they had warned police and child-welfare agencies that Vidal was in crisis.
- Investigators have not determined a motive or released key forensic details, and police later corrected an initial statement that three children were in the car to confirm there were two.