by A major breakthrough has been made in the murders of a pregnant Texas teenager and her husband – and their heartbroken relatives await more answers.
The bodies of Savanah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 23, were found shot to death on December 26 inside a Kia Optima in San Antonio. Her unborn child was also dead in the car.
A search was launched for the couple after their families were alarmed when Soto did not turn up on December 23 for an appointment to induce her labour.
After the murders were discovered, police released chilling footage showing the couple’s Kia Optima and a dark pickup truck with a bed cover. Police said one person of interest was driving the Kia Optima and the other was driving the pickup truck.
A week later, San Antonio police arrested two people and charged them in connection with the deaths.
Many questions remain about the circumstances that led to the couple’s departure and death. Here’s what we know so far.
When did the two go missing?
Soto was last seen on December 22 at the Valencia Lofts apartment complex in Leon Valley, a city in Bexar County, Texas. The teenager lived there with Guerra, the father of her child, according to family members.
Police described her as a 5-foot-1-inch pregnant woman with brown hair and brown eyes.
Her family became concerned when she did not turn up for a hospital appointment days later. She was a week past her due date, and scheduled to have induced labour, the family told the local station KENS- Television.
Her mother, Gloria Cordova, said she last heard from her daughter on Friday afternoon and received no response when she knocked on the door of her apartment on the evening of December 23.
Ms. Cordova also said she has not been able to contact Guerra since her daughter’s disappearance.
Leon Valley police issued a CLEAR Alert for Savanah on Dec. 25 and later said her husband was also missing. Savanah’s family organized a search of the area near her apartment on Christmas night.
“Savanah was so happy because she was going to be a mom. It breaks my heart,” her mother said KENS- Television.
Where were they found?
The pair were found dead on December 26 in a parked car in San Antonio, Texas.
Someone spotted the car in the parking lot of an apartment complex in San Antonio and called the family, KENS- Television reported. Relatives then called the police.
Two bodies were found in the Kia Optima. Police Chief William McManus said at a press conference that the bodies may have been there for three or four days.
Who are the suspects?
Police arrested two people in connection with the deaths on January 3.
Christopher Preciado, 19, was arrested and charged with capital murder, and his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, was charged with abuse of a corpse for helping his son move the bodies, police said.
Police Sergeant Washington Moscoso said Ramon did not participate in the murders.
He said more charges can be levied in relation to the unborn child.
The suspects were tracked down after a key piece of evidence was recovered from Soto’s cell phone, which alerted authorities to the possible location of the pickup truck, and ultimately to the home of the two suspects.
What was involved?
Although a firm motive for the killings has not yet been established, Sergeant Moscoso previously said a botched drug deal was apparently involved.
In a press conference on December 28, police released video taken by two persons of interest in the murders.
In the video, a dark pickup truck with a bed cover is seen driving into a parking lot in San Antonio.
The couple’s Kia Optima is seen driving and stopping alongside the truck.
Police said one person of interest was driving the Kia Optima and the other was driving the pickup truck.
One of the persons of interest is seen getting out of the pickup truck and approaching the driver’s side of the victims’ car, and appears to speak to the individual inside.
A second person of interest is then seen exiting the driver’s side of the Kia Optima.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters that none of the victims appear in the footage.
The police chief would not confirm whether the video is believed to have been captured before or after the murders.
It is not clear whether the victims knew the suspects before.
Family members of the couple also offered conflicting theories about what might have happened.
Soto’s sister-in-law alleged abuse. “I will not let you become one of those statistics of what happens when you have an abusive boyfriend,” she wrote on social media, in a post that has seen The New York Post.
Her mother also posted on Facebook: “I am concerned for her safety [with] a boy who is no good.”
But according to the Post NY, Guerra’s mother wrote on social media: “If anyone knows my son Matthew Guerra he and his pregnant girlfriend are missing. I know my son and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”
A sad family
This is not the first time tragedy has struck the Soto family.
In 2022, Savanah Soto’s 15-year-old brother, Ethan Soto, was shot and killed. “It’s hard, it’s like one after the other,” Gloria Cordova said KENS.
“It still hurts because of what I tell my kids, I’m not whole, I’m not whole, and now I don’t have my daughter,” she said.
In October, the man accused of Ethan’s murder was convicted in the courtroom. According to The Daily Mailfootage allegedly showed members of Soto’s family addressing him as he stood by him.
The footage showed several individuals jumping over a partition and throwing punches at the man – who allegedly made a gesture in the group.
After Soto and her husband died, her sister-in-law Mariana Delgado wrote on Facebook: “It’s supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year but it’s not the worst.
“We’re trying our best to give my daughter a Merry Christmas but it’s so hard trying to be happy instead we’re just heartbroken.
In a separate post, Ms. Delgado later asked that the family be allowed to grieve.
