A father and son in Texas have been arrested in connection with the killings of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend who were found shot dead in a car, police said Wednesday night.
The arrests come over a week after the bodies of Savannah Nicole Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, were found inside a car parked at an apartment complex in San Antonio. Soto’s family say she was overdue to give birth and had missed an appointment to have an induced labor when she disappeared the weekend before Christmas.
On Wednesday night, San Antonio Police Sgt. Washington Moscoso said the couple are believed to have been killed just before midnight on Dec. 21. Christopher Preciado, 19, has been charged with capital murder while his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, is charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping to move the bodies after the murders. Ramon did not take part in the killings, Moscoso said.
He added that no other suspects are being sought in the case and said that further charges are possible with respect to the death of Soto’s unborn baby.
Speaking to reporters, Moscoso said investigators believe the killings took place after a drug deal that went bad, but he did not elaborate. He said police were ultimately led to the Preciados using evidence collected from Soto’s cellphone with the assistance of the U.S. Secret Service.
Information from the phone specifically led investigators to another vehicle seen in surveillance footage that authorities publicly released last week in the hope that someone might recognize the people seen in the footage. Moscoso confirmed that Soto and Guerra were not alive in the surveillance video. He did not disclose where police believe the killings took place but said the couple’s remains were taken to the apartment complex after they were already dead.
After surveilling the vehicle from the video, Moscoso said, police were led to a house where the Preciados were found. The father, Ramon, opened the door and cooperated with authorities. “He knew why the police were there,” Moscoso said.
As he was being placed in a patrol car on Wednesday night, a reporter asked Ramon if he was sorry for what happened. “Aren’t you sorry for lying about what you’re saying?” he replied, according to the Associated Press. “You don’t even know what’s going on. You just make stuff up like always.”
Moscoso said police are now working with prosecutors to see if they can “put the baby as another victim on this.” “Our detectives are going to do everything they can to bring justice to the family,” he added.
