Investigators said the killings were followed by a hurried effort to move a car, wipe it down and leave two bodies behind a San Antonio building.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Bexar County jury convicted Christopher Preciado of capital murder and sent him to prison for life without parole after prosecutors said he killed Savanah Soto, Matthew Guerra and their unborn son, then drew relatives into the effort to hide the crime.
What made the case stand out was not only the double killing of a young couple expecting a child, but the trail investigators said followed it. Prosecutors argued that after the shots were fired during a drug-related meeting on Dec. 21, 2023, the victims’ car was moved, wiped down and abandoned at an apartment complex on Danny Kaye Drive, where the bodies remained for days. That concealment theory became a key bridge between the shooting itself and the arrests that came less than two weeks later.
According to the arrest affidavit, surveillance video showed a Chevrolet Silverado with its lights off pull onto the block shortly before midnight on Dec. 21, followed by the victims’ vehicle. Investigators said Ramon Preciado got out of the pickup and walked to the car where his son was believed to be waiting. Police said Myrta Romanos tossed Ramon a towel so he could wipe down the driver’s side door. After that, officers said, Christopher Preciado drove the victims’ vehicle behind the building and then left in the Silverado with Ramon and Romanos. By the time the public learned where Soto and Guerra were, police believed the two had already been dead for days.
The bodies were discovered only after Soto’s family sounded the alarm when she missed the Dec. 22 induction appointment for the birth of her son. Guerra’s family also lost contact with him. A CLEAR Alert went out on Dec. 25. The next day, after media reports described the vehicle, someone called Soto’s family to report seeing the car in the 5900 block of Danny Kaye Drive. Officers found Soto in the front seat and Guerra in the back, both with gunshot wounds to the head. Investigators later said the killings likely happened somewhere else before the bodies were dumped. The affidavit said one of the victims’ phones had searched Charlie Chan Drive, and the vehicle also pinged near that area, giving detectives a location that led them to the Preciado home and the Silverado.
From there, the prosecution worked forward. Police said Ramon Preciado came outside when detectives arrived at the Charlie Chan Drive home and told them he knew why they were there. Investigators said he admitted helping his son get rid of the bodies. Christopher Preciado gave detectives a different story, saying Guerra had pointed a gun at him during a marijuana sale and that he “manipulated” the gun, causing first Soto and then Guerra to be shot. Police said the evidence did not fit that account. At trial, prosecutors leaned on autopsy findings, cellphone records and the surveillance sequence to argue the killings were an execution linked to robbery, not self-defense or accident.
The state also used what happened after Dec. 21 to argue motive. Jurors saw pawn shop video from Dec. 24 showing a man and woman entering a store, and prosecutors said a person who had exchanged private messages with Preciado traded car parts for rings and money. Authorities later identified the rings as Guerra’s. Prosecutor Ross Lewis told jurors the case came down to “Three deaths. $300,” a phrase meant to tie the murders to a robbery over cash and valuables. The defense answered that there was no eyewitness and no video from inside the vehicle, and argued there was no DNA or gunshot residue evidence directly linking Preciado to the shooting itself.
Even so, the jury found him guilty after less than two hours of deliberations on March 26, 2026. Judge Jennifer Pena then imposed the automatic sentence of life without parole. The state had not sought the death penalty. Charges once filed against Romanos were later dismissed, but Ramon Preciado still faces a related case over what prosecutors say was his role in disposing of the bodies and helping conceal the crime. Christopher Preciado has since filed a motion seeking a new trial, arguing the verdict was contrary to the law and the evidence.
Family members made sure the hearing did not end as only a story about vehicles, surveillance and affidavits. Soto’s grandmother told Preciado he would regret what he did. A cousin said Soto had planned to raise her child alongside hers. Guerra’s father described the son whose birth changed his life. Outside court, Sabian Hernandez, Guerra’s brother, said the family believed justice had finally been served for Guerra, Soto and Fabian. Their statements shifted the focus from the mechanics of concealment to the human loss underneath it.
The case now moves into its remaining phases, with a June 10 hearing scheduled on Preciado’s request for a new trial and a separate prosecution against Ramon Preciado still pending in Bexar County.
Author note: Last updated April 19, 2026.