Christopher Preciado convicted of capital murder in deaths of Savanah Soto, Matthew Guerra, unborn child

SAN ANTONIO — Guilty. It’s a call that triggered a robust response in the 290th District Court this afternoon.

The jury has spoken in the capital murder trial of 21-year-old Christopher Preciado, who was accused of taking pictures pregnant mother Savanah Soto and her accomplice Matthew Guerra again in December 2023.

Soto was in the ultimate days of her being pregnant. A CLEAR Alert was issued on Christmas Day 2023 after she didn’t present up for her scheduled induction. Their our bodies had been discovered with bullet wounds on Dec. 26, 2023, in a automobile discovered at a northwest-side house complicated. 

Nine days later, Christopher Preciado and his father, Ramon Preciado, were booked into the Bexar County jail for the crime. 

Earlier this week, the jury noticed video of Preciado’s interview with police in 2024 when he mentioned Matthew and Savanah had been killed in the chaos of him making an attempt to defend himself. A detective testified that the proof they discovered doesn’t match his story. Wednesday, a health worker testified that the post-mortem confirmed their gunshot wounds had been in line with an intentional taking pictures. 

See updates from the ultimate day of the trial beneath. 

2:35 p.m. The capital murder conviction carries an automated life sentence with out the possibilty of parole. The choose confirmed the sentence. 

2:25 p.m. The verdict was learn in the courtroom, and Christopher Preciado has been discovered responsible of a capital murder on all three counts.

12:20 p.m. The closing arguments have concluded. The jury now has the case.

12:15 p.m. Alban has a slide of the protection’s case that claims, “THERE IS NO DNA.  NO GSR. NO PRINTS. NO WITNESSES. NO VIDEO. NOT HIS GUN. CAN’T TELL IT’S HIM ON SOME VIDEO.” She says they’ve disproved the statements.

12:10 p.m. Alban mentioned: “We didn’t find Matthew’s keys (in the car). It’s because Chris had them and used them to steal from their apartment. He wrote ‘We are going to pick up shit that is valuable.  I am trying to make real bread but we have to be fast.’ These were his plans all along. This is not self-defense.”

12:05 p.m. Alban mentioned: “They have said regularly that we don’t have any witnesses. We didn’t choose where this crime happened, he did. That we have the evidence that we have and we don’t have the evidence that we don’t.”

11:55 a.m. Referring to forensic proof and the taking pictures in the automobile, Albin mentioned: “You know it didn’t happen the way he (Christopher) says it happened.”

Then concerning the rings, she mentioned: “These are very specific rings. That’s not a coincidence. I want you to think about what it took for him to remove those rings from Matthew’s lifeless body. We know from that surveillance video. He and his parents were back there for a while.”

11:50 a.m. Alban continues: Christopher mentioned his dad and mom “didn’t know what they were going to be doing when they came to help him. So why did Ramon bring a towel?”

“He said he didn’t let his dad look int he car. His dad didn’t know, he didn’t wipe anything down, his dad didn’t see.” Albin then confirmed the surveillance video from the house car parking zone. “These are lies. You can’t trust anything he says about that night.”

11:45 a.m. Alban continues by saying Christopher is “not afraid of that man (Matthew). He was more than happy to see him post all of that (items he possessed) so he could plot and plan and prepare to take all of it away from him.”

She questioned the protection’s deal with a scarcity of DNA proof: “We did bring you DNA. That’s Matthew’s blood on that money right outside Chris’ house. How did that get there? Unless he lied.”

11:40 a.m.  Alban continues that Christopher Preciado “murdered three people right before Christmas! He wants people to believe he’s a hard ass because he’s not. He tells Anthony he was arrested by Leon Valley but he wasn’t.”

“He’s telling Anthony how cool he is. He is creating an online persona. He’s bragging! Until the cops get to him, and all of a sudden he’s scared. Give me a break! We all know his intent. We proved everything. I made a list of all his lies.  I lost count at 20.”

11:35 a.m. Alban continues speaking concerning the total case: “We all know he is putting on an act because of everything he said and did in the days in between. He didn’t call the cops and his parents helped him. That’s what we know.” 

“You don’t need every single piece of the puzzle to see what it is. We have filled in the puzzle in so many ways.”

“These text messages prove Matthew was not agitated (or) scared. Chris was the one on pins and needles…. He’s outside pacing with hand on forehead. Watch the video! … He is nervous. He knows what he is about to do. Savanah and Matt had no idea. He didn’t know he was a wolf underneath and they walked into an ambush unarmed.”

11:30 a.m. Alban says they introduced 30 witnesses to show their case and so they greater than proved it. They used GPS knowledge, social media messages and hundreds of hours of surveillance video present what occurred contained in the automobile. 

11:27 a.m. Prosecutor Melissa Alban takes over closing arguments. She begins by saying they by no means mentioned that Savanah and Matthew had been angels. But, she repeats that it would not justify what occurred to them.

11:25 a.m. Guerrero says on the night time in query, issues went flawed nevertheless it nonetheless would not show that Christopher is responsible of capital murder.

11:23 a.m. Guerrero says the arguments made by the prosecution are all assumptions, and he doesn’t deserve the utmost sentence beneath capital murder. 

11:17 a.m. ‘There is not any forensic proof to show who did what,” Guerrero says. 

11:15 a.m. Going again to the DNA proof, Guerrero reminds the jury the DNA proof didn’t implicate Christopher in any approach. His DNA was not discovered contained in the automobile. She additionally reminds the jury {that a} wound can seem intentional however can’t show intention, because the health worker testified. 

11:08 a.m. Guerrero says Christopher mentioned Matthew had a gun pointed a sure approach.  The detective mentioned it was just about inconceivable however then he confirmed the jury it was doable. 

11:04 a.m. Guerrero reminds the jury that Matthew Guerra was a drug vendor and never the “family man” that the prosecution had painted him as. She reminds the jury he took his pregnant girlfriend who was on account of have a child the following day to a drug deal. 

10:59 a.m. Defense legal professional Monica Guerrero picks up closing arguments. She begins by saying Christopher was a stoner teenager not succesful of being a killer. 

10:54 a.m. “That’s not science by any stretch of the imagination, that’s opinion, that’s a theory.” The protection says the proof introduced by the prosecution was simply theories, they can’t say for certain what occurred. 

10:50 a.m. The protection says the prosecution downplayed the significance of DNA in a murder trial. 

10:49 a.m. The protection reminds the jury that a number of of the witness admitted they might not show intent. 

10:47: “There can be no mistakes here with your decision,” The protection legal professional says there isn’t any video proof, no DNA proof or fingerprints that put the gun in Christopher’s hand or present that he supposed to kill the household. 

10:45 a.m. The protection takes over closing arguments. 

10:40 a.m. “We met our burden three times over.” Lewis wraps up his closing arguments. It is handed to the protection. 

10:36 a.m. Lewis urges the jury to not go along with the lesser expenses the protection is proposing. He repeats that the proof exhibits that Christopher deliberately murdered. 

10:34 a.m. “He needed the car parts, he needed the money, so he killed.” Lewis explains that the jury should discover Christopher responsible of all three counts of capital murder collectively. He repeats the gun used in the crime got here from Christopher’s home. 

10:32 a.m. Prosecutor Ross Lewis additionally brings up that the proof exhibits Christopher deliberate to rob Matthew, which was made clear in his Instagram messages forward of the murder. In these messages, he advised a contact that he was anticipating to return into some cash the night time of Dec. 21, which is when Savanah and Matthew died. He was beneath stress to pay the contact for some automobile components he had ordered. 

10:30 a.m. The prosecutor says Preciado knowingly shot Matthew first after which turned the gun and shot Savanah second. He says the proof is obvious on that. 

10:27 a.m. The prosecutor is begining the closing arguments by saying “common sense” dictates that Preciado should be discovered responsible. 

10:25 a.m. The choose continues to learn the jury directions. 

10:02 a.m. The choose continues to learn an extended doc offering definitions of numerous phrases for the jury. The doc she is studying may also be accessible for them overview later. 

10 a.m. Judge Pena additionally mentions expenses of manslaughter and criminally-negligent murder, that are lesser expenses that the protection talked about yesterday. 

9:58 p.m. The choose begins the proceedings by explaining the definition of capital murder. She says it consists of the murder of a child beneath the age of ten, murder dedicated in the course of a theft, or murder of a number of individuals, together with different elements. 

9:52 a.m. The choose has arrived in the courtroom and is chatting with legal professionals in a sidebar. 

9:50 a.m. We are studying extra concerning the cost of capital murder that the jury will determine on. There can be a number of choices for the jury, together with a lesser cost. It will take a while for the jury to listen to all of the choices in courtroom earlier than they go into their deliberations. 

9:45 a.m. The courtroom is packed in the gallery, with sufferer’s members of the family offering one another consolation. Ramon Preciado and Myrta Romanos are sitting in the entrance row, surrounded by bailiffs for his or her safety. 

9:40 a.m. Christopher Preciado has arrived in courtroom, together with some of the legal professionals and gallery members. 

9:30 a.m. Closing arguments set to start in the 290th District Court. 

The households have been waiting for justice since Dec. 21, 2023. That was the day the victims had been final seen alive in the 6000 block of Grissom Road in Leon Valley.

Initially, the incident was dealt with as a lacking individual case. Soto, who was one week overdue to provide start, failed to point out up on the hospital for a deliberate supply for Fabian. Family members mentioned she and her accomplice vanished, sparking large search effort that ended 4 days later. They had each been shot in the pinnacle.

At the time, San Antonio police mentioned the automobile had been in the car parking zone for days. They additionally mentioned they thought the killing was on account of 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 advised police he and Guerra argued throughout their assembly and he accused Guerra of pulling a weapon on him. Police mentioned his declare of self-defense had some inconsistencies and the bodily proof did not match the story being advised.

In addition to capital murder, Preciado’s different expenses are tampering with a corpse and abuse of a corpse with out authorized authority. There have been some complicating elements, in that there are others who’ve been charged in reference to aftermath of the deaths.

Christopher’s father, Ramon Preciado, and his mom, Myrta Romanos, had been each charged with serving to Christopher dispose of the our bodies. The expenses towards the mother were dismissed in November, pending additional investigation.

The expenses towards Ramon will go ahead at one other time. He is out of jail on bond whereas he awaits trial. In addition to the legal case, a $1 million civil lawsuit has additionally been filed towards the three accused of involvement in the deaths.

The sophisticated and tragic particulars will take some time to current. It’s mentioned officers anticipate testimony will take a couple of week earlier than they get it into the palms of the jury.

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