The trial of Christopher Preciado, accused by police of capital murder in the deaths of Savanah Soto, her partner, and their unborn child, unfolds in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO — A pregnant woman days away from giving birth, her boyfriend and their unborn child were killed in what police describe as a drug deal gone wrong. Now, the man accused of capital murder in their deaths is on trial for the crime that gripped San Antonio and beyond. 

Savanah Soto, 18, Matthew Guerra, 22, and their child, a baby boy they named Fabian, were killed during the holiday season of 2023.

Soto was in final days of her pregnancy. A CLEAR Alert was issued on Christmas Day 2023 after she did not show up for her scheduled induction. Their bodies were found with bullet wounds on Dec. 26, 2023, in a car found at a northwest-side apartment complex.

Preciado’s trial began Tuesday, and jurors were shown graphic evidence and listened to emotional testimony from several witnesses Tuesday and Wednesday. Testimony is expected to continue Thursday. 

Live-streaming is not allowed by the court in this trial but KENS 5 will be providing daily live updates each day. See updates of Day 3 of the trial below. 



Live updates

2:15 p.m. Court takes a short break. 

2:10 p.m. The defense asks if any of the Christopher Preciado’s fingerprints were found on the gun or the accessories. The witness says they were not. The defense also asks if a person picked it up and fired it, would that leave prints? The witness said yes. The defense asks where the gun was found and the witness confirms it was Ramon and Myrta’s bedroom. 

2 p.m. The detective goes through more of the evidence found in the home, including the including a black backpack that smelled like marijuana and multiple cell phones. The detective confirms no fingerprints were found on the items. The witnes is passed to the defense.

1:50 p.m. Patton carefully opens multiple bags and reveals the handgun that was recovered from the home of Christopher Preciado. 

1:43 p.m. The witness also collected a handful of cellphones collected into evidence. He explains that every items goes into a separate bag and they are taken back to the SAPD office.

1:40 p.m. The prosecution is showing a pair of gym shoes from Christopher Preciado’s bedroom with an evidence marker next to it. They also found two hoodie sweatshirts and a white sleeveless t-shirt. 

1:35 p.m. The witness said he is responsible for getting the evidence to the lab for testing. It is then handed over to “civilians” for further processing. All the apparent blood swabs from the search of the home were collected and sealed according to this process. 

1:31 p.m. The prosecution is moving on to showing bags of forensic evidence. The prosecutor and witness are sorting through the bags and confirming the evidence numbers. The witness also explains how the evidence bags are sealed. 

1:25 p.m. Several photos of the gun, a 380 caliber weapon, are being show in court. 

1:19 p.m. Patton says he did a swab on the handgun, magazine  and rounds, as well as a swab on the DVR and cables. They were swabbing for blood or DNA.

1:17 p.m. Patton also searched throughout the Preciado home. He took over 500 photographs. He found a bag in the home with some clothing and a weapon. He also found a DVR in one of the lower-level bedrooms, presumably connected to the exterior security cameras. 

1:15 p.m. Patton was involved with photographing the truck belonging to Ramon Preciado. The court is shown various photographs of the truck. 

1:05 p.m. Court is back in session and the next witness is Thomas Patton. He was with SAPD for 22 years and left in 2024. He had many different jobs, including evidence detective. 

12:10 p.m. Court is adjourned for lunch. 

12 p.m. The next witness is Rosalinda Martinez, who manages the apartment complex where Savanah and Matthew lived. She confirms maps of the apartment complex and surveillance video of various angles around the complex before being excused from the stand. 

11:57 a.m. The witness is excused. 

11:56 a.m. Defense confirms the firearm was found on the second-floor bedroom. Also confirmed the clothes that may have had blood on them were seized for evidence. The witness is passed back to prosecution. 

11:54 a.m. The defense asks the witness how Christopher Preciado acted on Jan. 3. The witness said he was not acting strangely or trying to flee. The defense asks about the DVR recording of the surveillance video, and whether any professionals were consulted on if there was in fact a recording. 

11:53 a.m. Witness is passed to the defense. 

11:50 a.m. The witness said he spoke to a woman who lived in the area. She said she had found some bloody money one street north of Charlie Chan. She was walking her dog when she came across the bloody money. 

11:47 a.m. The officers searching the garage and the witness said they found clothing that looked like they might have blood on them. The truck was also towed to the police facility where large evidence is processed. 

11:46 a.m. A small firearm was found inside the bedroom. The witness said the ammunition from the handgun was the same as the shell casing found in the KIA, according to his recollection. 

11:44 a.m. The witness said he had trouble getting into Ramon and Myrta’s bedroom, the only room on the second floor of the house. That door was locked. They asked Myrta for keys to unlock the door. She was acting nervous and none of the keys she had would unlock it. When officers said they would have to take the door off the hinges, Myrta went downstairs and got a key that worked to open the door. 

11:40 a.m. Officers took the father and son to the homicide department for statements. The witness and other officers on the scene searched the home. Myrta was also in the home, and she was asked to stay in sight of officers during the search. Officers were told to look for the surveillance video equipment and any weapons. 

11:37 a.m. The court is shown body worn camera video that shows the witness and other officers informing Ramon and Christopher of the fact that the truck had been connected with the murders and they had a warrant to seize the truck. The witness noticed cameras connected to the house and he asked Ramon and Christopher to obtain the video. They answered that there is no recording, they are just live-streamed/monitored.

11:35 a.m. Ramon and Christopher were separated by officers and questioned separately so they did not influence each other in their answers. 

11:33 a.m. This witness was also present on Jan. 3 when officers went to the Preciado home with a search warrant for Ramon Preciado’s truck, which police believed at that point to be connected with the crime. Ramon and Christopher came out of the home and spoke with police that day. 

11:31 a.m. In the course of the investigation, the witness fielded many phone calls with possible tips. There were lots of them given that this case was heavily in the public eye and on social media. The tips included some from psychics who claimed to know where detectives should look.

11:28 a.m. The witness says he entered a shell casing recovered from the KIA (car where the bodies were found) into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). There were no matches to previous crimes. 

11:25 a.m. On the day after the bodies were found, the witness was involved in assisting detectives on searching the apartment where Matthew and Savanah were living. They were looking for any kind of video evidence from around that property that might lead them to a suspect or to figure out what happened in the crime. 

11:20 a.m. The next witness is a district attorney investigator with extensive experience with SAPD. He assisted with issuing the warrant on Dec. 26 for police to enter and search the vehicle where Savanah and Matthew’s bodies were found. 

11:06 a.m. Court takes a short break. 

11:05 a.m. The defense asks the witness to clarify where the gun was found. The witness said it was found in “the mother’s” room (Myrta Romanos, Christopher’s stepmother). The witness is then excused. 

11:03 a.m. The court is shown body cam video of Officer Lopez searching the Preciado home. The video shows a gun being found in a room of the home. The witness is passed to the defense. 

11 a.m. The state is calling its next witness, Officer Stephen Lopez, who has been with SAPD for four years. He was assigned on patrol the day the bodies were discovered on Danny Kaye. 

10:56 a.m. The defense is asking about the prosecution’s alleging that Savanah’s phone was pinged to the location on Charlie Chan where police believe the murders took place. The defense asks the witness if the digital data can definitely place anyone inside the car or establish what happened in the car. The witness said the data cannot do that. 

10:53 a.m. On the topic of using GPS to figure out where a phone has been, the witness says there is an error range of within five meters. The defense asks if the data can show whether or not a person was inside or outside of a vehicle within that five meter range (this pertains to the defense’s argument that there is no evidence that places Christopher inside the car where the bodies were found.). The witness says it is not precise enough. 

10:50 a.m. Detective Justin Knox with SAPD is back on the stand. He began his testimony Wednesday afternoon. The defense is now cross-examining him about his digital forensic evidence procedures. He is giving details about how to recover evidence off of phones that have been deleted. He says if something is still on a phone, they can recover it, but if it has been deleted off the device, police cannot recover it. 

10:45 a.m. Christopher’s father, Ramon Preciado, who is also charged in the case and out on bail, is present in the courtroom today. 


10:40 a.m. Two family members have been ejected from the courtroom, and bailiffs issued more warnings to not interrupt court proceedings. 

10:30 a.m. Court begins for Day 3 of the Christopher Preciado trial.


Background on the case

The families have been waiting for justice since Dec. 22, 2023. That was the day the victims were last seen alive in the 6000 block of Grissom Road in Leon Valley.

Initially, the incident was handled as a missing person case. Soto, who was one week overdue to give birth, failed to show up at the hospital for a planned delivery for Fabian. Family members said she and her partner vanished, sparking massive search effort that ended four days later. They had both been shot in the head.

At the time, San Antonio police said the car had been in the parking lot for days. They also said they thought the killing was due to an argument over a drug transaction. After an aggressive investigation, Preciado was arrested on Jan. 4, 2024. He has been in jail ever since.

At the outset, Preciado told police he and Guerra argued during their meeting and he accused Guerra of pulling a weapon on him. Police said his claim of self-defense had some inconsistencies and the physical evidence didn’t match the story being told.

In addition to capital murder, Preciado’s other charges are tampering with a corpse and abuse of a corpse without legal authority. There have been some complicating factors, in that there are others who have been charged in connection with aftermath of the deaths.

Christopher’s father, Ramon Preciado, and his stepmother, Myrta Romanos, were both charged with helping Christopher dispose of the bodies. The charges against the stepmom were dismissed in November, pending further investigation.

The charges against Ramon will go forward at another time. He is out of jail on bond while he awaits trial. In addition to the criminal case, a $1 million civil lawsuit has also been filed against the three accused of involvement in the deaths.

The complicated and tragic details will take a while to present. It’s said officials expect testimony will take more than one week before they get it into the hands of the jury.

The trial is unfolding in the 290th District Court, overseen by Judge Jennifer Pena.Â