SAN ANTONIO – When 21-year-old Jolie Pesina crashed her vehicle into Leon Creek on a November morning, her iPhone immediately did what it was designed to do. It called 911.
Records obtained by KSAT Investigates confirm Apple’s Crash Detection system repeatedly provided a San Antonio emergency call taker with Pesina’s precise latitude and longitude coordinates and an estimated search radius of two meters.
However, San Antonio police officers did not respond to those exact coordinates.
Instead, officers were sent to a nearby address along Southwest Loop 410, searched the area for less than 15 minutes and then cleared the call, dispatch audio confirms.
Thirty-seven hours later, Pesina’s loved ones used the same coordinates provided by Apple’s emergency alert to locate her vehicle and her body.
“I believe if they would have done their job they would have found her, but they didn’t,” Pesina’s mother, Mercy Villarreal, said.
A crash, an automated 911 call and exact coordinates
Pesina was driving to work shortly before 6 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2025, when investigators said she crashed through a guardrail along Southwest Loop 410 before Palo Alto Road and into Leon Creek.
Moments later, her iPhone automatically contacted 911.
Audio obtained by KSAT Investigates captured the automated emergency message.
“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to the phone,” the message states before providing Pesina’s latitude and longitude.
The coordinates were repeated multiple times during the call.
However, the 911 recording confirms the call taker repeatedly talked over portions of the automated message.
A dispatcher eventually relayed to officers a nearby street address: 12401 block Southwest Loop 410 eastbound lanes where officers responded.
Officers searched, then moved on
Dispatch records and police radio traffic show officers searched the area after being dispatched.
Apartment surveillance footage obtained by KSAT Investigates shows officers driving back and forth in front of the complex along the highway — blocks from the crash scene — just after 6 a.m.
At one point, an officer requested assistance from SAPD’s helicopter unit to search the wooded area off the roadway.
“We didn’t find anything on the roadway. Is there any way that EAGLE is available just to check the wooded area off the highway?” an officer asked.
The request was denied because the helicopter was not flying at the time, dispatch records confirm.
Minutes later, officers ended their search after being informed that traffic cameras in the area did not show signs of a crash.
Had officers responded to the exact latitude and longitude provided by Apple’s alert, those coordinates would have placed them directly in Leon Creek where Pesina’s vehicle and body were ultimately discovered.
Expert: Crash detection can be a ‘lifesaving tool’
Cody Breunig is a former police officer-turned-digital forensics expert who has extensive knowledge of Apple Crash Detection technology.
He reviewed details of the case, including the 911 audio, for KSAT Investigates.
“It’s baked into the hardware. It’s based on thousands of hours of crash data that Apple has collected and trained their device on,“ Breunig said. ”Quite frankly, it’s a lifesaving tool."
Breunig said emergency operators are generally trained to listen carefully to automated emergency alerts because they often contain critical location information.
“Most operators know to listen,” Breunig said. “That’s one of the biggest things we can do.”
Breunig said the case should prompt a review of what happened.
“I think it’s an opportunity for any individual who is in charge to look at and analyze what went wrong,” Breunig said. “It’s a sad situation all the way around. And the reality is, Apple tries to account for confusion that might happen when it’s system calls (911).”
Family members followed the coordinates themselves
As hours turned into more than a day, Pesina’s family continued searching for answers.
Pesina’s loved ones repeatedly contacted law enforcement seeking information about the crash, after two of her relatives received the same Apple crash alert and coordinates.
Using the coordinates from the alert, family members drove to that area of Southwest Loop 410.
At approximately 6:53 p.m. on Nov. 18 — 37 hours after the crash — Pesina’s boyfriend’s father called 911.
“We found the vehicle in a ditch,” the hysterical caller told a dispatcher. “We came looking for her.”
“She’s deceased. She’s deceased,” the caller said as cries can be heard in the background.
SAPD fought release of records
KSAT Investigates obtained the 911 recordings, crash report and incident detail report earlier this year after SAPD attempted to withhold them from public release.
City officials argued the records were related to a closed criminal case that did not result in a conviction or deferred adjudication, contained information protected by the Texas Transportation Code and contained information on a motor vehicle operator’s license.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office in March ordered SAPD to release the requested records after the AG’s office determined the information was related to a person who was deceased.
SAPD released the audio recordings and written records in mid-May — nearly two-and-a-half months after the AG’s ruling.
The department declined requests to make a member of its administration available for an interview.
SAPD officials did not answer questions from KSAT Investigates about whether any dispatchers, call takers or officers were disciplined in connection with the Pesina search or whether any procedural changes have been implemented since her November crash.
“I just feel like they failed her. And she was there by herself from Monday to Tuesday. And it really hurts,” said Villarreal. “They could’ve done more. They could have sent more policemen. They could have sent a helicopter. They could’ve sent dogs.”
Autopsy findings
Pesina died from blunt force injuries suffered in the crash, an autopsy released by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office shows.
The autopsy report does not indicate how long Pesina survived after the crash.
The report notes there was no evidence she drowned, since her head was above the water level when she was removed from the vehicle Nov. 18.
For Villarreal, the unanswered questions remain difficult to live with.
“Even though she was gone, at least I could have held her hand,” Villarreal said. “At least I could have kissed her. And I couldn’t even do that. And it just hurts. It just hurts.”
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.