{"id":219421,"date":"2026-03-25T08:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T08:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/219421\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T08:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T08:09:18","slug":"prosecutors-believe-preciados-discussion-of-car-parts-rings-show-murder-motive-on-day-6-of-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/219421\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors believe Preciado\u2019s discussion of car parts, rings show murder motive on Day 6 of trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The San Antonio Police Department\u2019s lead investigator into the shooting deaths of Matthew Guerra<\/a>, Savanah Soto<\/a> and their unborn child spent more time on the stand on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Detective Jeremy Goodwin, whose interrogation interview<\/a> with Christopher Preciado<\/a> was shown to jurors on Monday, was questioned for at least three additional hours in court. <\/p>\n

Detective Jeremy Goodwin, whose interrogation interview with Christopher Preciado was shown to jurors on Monday, spent at least three more hours answering questions in court on Tuesday. (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Bexar County co-prosecutor Melissa Alban asked Goodwin about some of Preciado\u2019s private social media messages in the days before and after the December 2023 murders. <\/p>\n

One day before the murders, on Dec. 20, 2023, Preciado messaged someone on Instagram that read, in part: \u201cGive me to Friday at the latest and I will have your money.\u201d In the same message, Preciado also asked the person about the cost of a car battery. <\/p>\n

Two days later, Preciado\u2019s message to the same person discussed two rings, one of which may have been a \u201cVersace.\u201d <\/p>\n

A Christmas Eve Instagram message from Preciado mentioned getting \u201cthe rest\u201d from an apartment complex on \u201cGrissom\u201d Road, which is the address where Guerra and Soto lived. <\/p>\n

Christopher Preciado, 21, entered a Bexar County courtroom before his capital murder trial proceedings resumed on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Investigators said rings belonging to Guerra were pawned days after the murders. Preciado allegedly used the money to buy new tires. <\/p>\n

Some of Preciado\u2019s Instagram stories, one of which said \u201crest in paradise,\u201d showed his closeness to Guerra in the days after his death. <\/p>\n

\u201cDis (sic) s— ain\u2019t no joke. You either end up an OG, dead, or locked up,\u201d another Preciado Instagram story with a picture of Guerra read, in part. \u201cRIP baby boy, he ain\u2019t deserve dat s—.\u201d <\/p>\n

Prosecutors believe these messages paint a clear motive for Preciado instead of his claim of self-defense. <\/p>\n

However, Goodwin told the defense that Preciado did not have any fingerprint evidence linking him to the murder weapon or any witnesses to him pulling the trigger. <\/p>\n

Preciado has been charged with capital murder in the deaths of Guerra, Savanah Soto and their unborn child.<\/p>\n

If found guilty, Preciado faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

Soto, who was expected to be induced to deliver her son, never showed up for her appointment on Dec. 22, 2023.<\/p>\n

Soto and her boyfriend, Guerra, were last heard from on Dec. 21, 2023, according to family and police statements.<\/p>\n

Soto\u2019s family soon reported her as a missing person. Authorities issued a statewide CLEAR Alert on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

One day later, on Dec. 26, 2023, police said Soto and Guerra were found dead in Guerra\u2019s vehicle at a Leon Valley apartment complex.<\/p>\n

Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra (KSAT 12 News)<\/p>\n

On Jan. 3, 2024, Christopher Preciado, who was 19 at the time, was arrested and charged with capital murder. His father, Ramon Preciado, was arrested on charges of tampering with evidence and abuse of a human corpse, according to arrest records and police statements.<\/p>\n

Authorities later arrested Myrta Romanos, Christopher Preciado\u2019s mother, on allegations that she tried to help cover up the crime.<\/p>\n

Christopher Preciado, Myrta Romanos and Ramon Preciado (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Soto and Guerra\u2019s families said they did not know Christopher and Ramon Preciado. Police said the dispute that led to the killings began with a drug deal.<\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit, Christopher Preciado told police that Guerra pulled a gun on him and that he was able to \u201cmanipulate it.\u201d Soto and Guerra were shot during that sequence.<\/p>\n

In February 2025, Ramon Preciado was released from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center after his bond was reduced.<\/p>\n

Romanos was expected to go to trial in November 2025. However, after the state sought a reset that the court denied, prosecutors dismissed all charges against Romanos.<\/p>\n

The case against Christopher Preciado moved forward and was finally set for trial.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to last more than a week. The witness list includes law enforcement officers from multiple agencies, an expert witness and family members from the Guerra and Soto families.<\/p>\n

The witness list also includes Ramon Preciado and Romanos, but it is not yet known whether they will be called on to testify.<\/p>\n

The judge is not allowing the trial to be livestreamed, but KSAT 12 News will provide continuous updates on the case from inside the courtroom.<\/p>\n

More coverage of the Christopher Preciado capital murder trial on KSAT: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEXAR COUNTY, Texas \u2013 The San Antonio Police Department\u2019s lead investigator into the shooting deaths of Matthew Guerra,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,12609,815,294,23540,23541,23542,82,84,83,23539],"class_list":["post-219421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-bexar-county","tag-christopher-preciado","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-matthew-guerra","tag-myrta-romanos","tag-ramon-preciado","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-savanah-soto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}