Charged with capital murder, Christopher Preciado, 19, is led out of SAPD headquarters in handcuffs. Credit: Michael Karlis

San Antonio police arrested a father and son late Wednesday in connection with the headline-grabbing shooting deaths of pregnant 18-year-old Savanah Soto and her boyfriend Matthew Guerra, 22.

Christopher Preciado, 19, has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of Soto and Guerra, Sgt. Washington Moscoso said during a press conference at San Antonio Police Department headquarters. Police believe Preciado killed the couple during a “drug deal gone bad” and later called his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, to help dispose of the bodies, according to Moscoso.

Ramon Preciado has been charged with abuse of a corpse, the police spokesman said.

“Always fake news. Y’all guys always one-sided,” Ramon Preciado told reporters from the back of a patrol car outside police headquarters. “You don’t even know what’s going on.”

When asked if he knew whether Soto was pregnant, Christopher Preciado remained silent.

Ramon Preciado, 53, is charged with abuse of a corpse, SAPD officials said during a Wednesday press conference. Credit: Michael Karlis

The arrests of Christopher and Ramon Preciado appear to end a 10-day manhunt that made international headlines.

Soto went missing mere hours before she expected to have labor induced at Stone Oak Methodist Hospital on Dec. 23. On Christmas Day, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue (CLEAR) alert for the teen, describing her as an “individual in imminent danger.”

The bodies of Soto and Guerra were found the following day in a 2013 gray Kia Optima at the Colinas Medical Apartments. SAPD investigators think the slayings took place at a separate location and that Ramon Preciado wasn’t present at the time, Moscoso told reporters.

Christopher and Ramon Preciado are the only suspects in the case, and the pair “knew why police were there” when officers knocked on the door of their Leon Valley home Wednesday, Moscoso said. SAPD was able to track down the suspects by using information found on Soto’s cell phone, he added.

“These are the only suspects we were looking for,” Moscoso said. “Many names were thrown out there; they didn’t have anything to do with these murders.”

San Antonio Police Sgt. Washington Moscoso speaks to reporters at SAPD headquarters. Credit: Michael Karlis

Soto’s mother, Gloria Cordova, expressed relief about the arrests in a Wednesday Facebook post.

“They caught the MF’s that killed our babies. Justice for Savannah, Baby Fabian, Matthew,” she wrote.

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This article appears in Dec 27, 2023 – Jan 9, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...