Jolie Pesina’s iPhone gave emergency operators coordinates within two meters of where her vehicle was later found in Leon Creek.
SAN ANTONIO, TX — San Antonio police searched for less than 15 minutes near the wrong location after receiving an automated crash alert from a 21-year-old woman’s phone, according to newly released records. Her family found her dead in her vehicle 37 hours later after following the coordinates sent by the device.
The records provide new details about the response to Jolie Pesina’s fatal Nov. 17, 2025, crash along Southwest Loop 410 near Palo Alto Road. Her iPhone’s Crash Detection system repeatedly gave a 911 call taker latitude and longitude coordinates that were within an estimated two meters of the vehicle, KSAT Investigates reported. Officers were instead dispatched to a nearby street address and searched several blocks from where Pesina had crashed into Leon Creek.
Pesina was driving to work shortly before 6 a.m. when investigators said her vehicle went through a guardrail and landed in the creek. Moments later, her phone automatically called 911 and played a recorded message saying its owner had been in a severe crash and was not responding. The message then repeated the location coordinates several times.
A recording of the emergency call showed that the call taker spoke over parts of the automated message. A dispatcher later sent officers to the 12401 block of Southwest Loop 410’s eastbound lanes rather than directly to the coordinates provided by the phone. Surveillance video showed officers driving near an apartment complex along the highway shortly after 6 a.m., blocks from the crash site.
Police radio traffic showed that an officer asked whether the department’s helicopter unit could check the wooded area beside the highway. The request was denied because the helicopter was not operating at the time. Officers ended the search minutes later after they were told that nearby traffic cameras did not show evidence of a crash. Dispatch records indicate that the on-scene search lasted less than 15 minutes.
The department initially told reporters that Pesina’s phone had registered about a mile from the actual crash site. The newly released records indicate that the automated call repeatedly supplied precise coordinates that would have directed responders to Leon Creek, where Pesina and her overturned vehicle were later discovered.
Pesina’s relatives continued trying to find her after two family members received Apple crash alerts containing the same coordinates. They contacted authorities and eventually traveled to the area themselves. At about 6:53 p.m. Nov. 18, the father of Pesina’s boyfriend called 911 to report that the family had found the vehicle in a ditch. Pesina was inside and unresponsive.
“I believe if they would have done their job they would have found her, but they didn’t,” Pesina’s mother, Mercy Villarreal, told KSAT. She said the family believes authorities could have mounted a broader search by sending more officers, a helicopter or search dogs. Pesina was the mother of a 2-year-old daughter.
A former police officer and digital forensics specialist who reviewed the case said automated crash alerts can provide critical information when a person cannot call for help. Cody Breunig said emergency operators are generally trained to listen carefully to such messages because they may include precise location data. He said the response should be reviewed to determine what went wrong.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Pesina died from blunt force injuries caused by the crash. The autopsy did not establish how long she remained alive afterward. It found no evidence that she drowned and noted that her head was above the water when she was removed from the vehicle.
KSAT obtained the 911 recordings, crash report and incident records after the San Antonio Police Department sought to withhold them. The Texas Attorney General’s Office ordered their release in March, finding that the information concerned a person who had died. Police released the material in mid-May.
SAPD declined to provide an administrator for an interview and did not answer questions about whether any call takers, dispatchers or officers were disciplined. The department also did not say whether it had changed its procedures for handling automated crash alerts. The records leave unresolved whether a faster response to the exact coordinates could have changed the outcome.
Author note: Last updated July 14, 2026.