Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage as they work to determine how Aryana Trevino Martinez reached a creek area alone.
SAN ANTONIO, TX — Police are investigating how 2-year-old Aryana Trevino Martinez left a Northwest Side home and reached a heavily overgrown creek area, where she was found unresponsive hours after relatives reported her missing.
Aryana’s disappearance Sunday evening prompted an AMBER Alert and a large search involving officers, relatives, neighbors and other volunteers. She was found around midnight near Belle Ellen Drive, about 500 yards from the area where she disappeared, according to police and local reports. Emergency personnel attempted to save her, but she was later pronounced dead. Her cause and manner of death have not been released.
Relatives called police at about 8 p.m. Sunday and said Aryana had wandered away from a residence in the 4700 block of Allegheny Drive, according to preliminary information from the San Antonio Police Department. Authorities deployed search teams and other resources across the surrounding neighborhood. An AMBER Alert described Aryana as wearing a black top and leopard-print pants.
Detectives said surveillance video appears to show Aryana walking alone through an alley and toward the area where she was later found. Police have not released the full video or explained how she left the property. Authorities also have not said how long she had been outside before she was discovered or whether investigators have confirmed the route she traveled.
The toddler was located in thick vegetation near a drainage creek in the Belle Ellen area. Investigators at the scene said she had not been pulled from the water, although parts of the creek vary in depth. Police have not said whether water played a role in her death, and no official finding of drowning has been announced.
Several neighbors joined the search after learning that a young child was missing. Some searched yards, alleys and brush while helicopters circled above the neighborhood. Witnesses said officers and volunteers converged on the creek area shortly before Aryana was found and first responders began performing life-saving measures.
Residents have questioned how a 2-year-old could have traveled several hundred yards through the neighborhood without being stopped. Police have not identified any evidence of an abduction or announced whether foul play is suspected. They have said Aryana’s family is cooperating with the investigation.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office recorded Aryana’s death shortly after midnight Monday. The office was continuing its examination Tuesday and had not released a cause or manner of death. Those findings could help investigators determine whether her death resulted from an accident or other circumstances.
Police have not announced any arrests or criminal charges. They also have not released further details about who was caring for Aryana before she disappeared, whether a gate or door had been left open, or when relatives last saw her inside the residence. Investigators continued reviewing surveillance footage and gathering information from people in the area.
A community vigil was planned Tuesday evening near Belle Ellen Drive as a memorial grew in the neighborhood. The police investigation remained active, with the medical examiner’s findings and Aryana’s movements before she was found among the key unresolved questions.
Author note: Last updated August 4, 2026.