The family of a pregnant Texas woman, killed in what investigators believe was a narcotics deal "that went bad," insisted Thursday she didn't use drugs and was unduly influenced by the man killed alongside her.
San Antonio police arrested two men in connection with the slayings of Savanah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, who were found shot to death inside his car just after Christmas.
Christopher Preciado, 19, was charged with capital murder while his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, was charged with abuse of a corpse. Police alleged he helped move the bodies.
"It appears to be a narcotics-related deal that went bad," Police Sgt. Washington Moscoso told reporters early Thursday.
Soto, who was pregnant and due to be induced just before she disappeared, didn't do drugs and was even sensitive to secondhand tobacco smoke, her brother Jordan Corona told NBC News.
Corona said he has no knowledge of Guerra's dabbling in narcotics — but worried about his sister's relationship with her abusive boyfriend.
"My sister was a little sweetheart. She didn't even like being near smoke," Corona said. "I guess it was just one of those wrong-place, wrong-time situations. She doesn't get around that type of stuff [drugs]. Of course, her boyfriend was the way he was, but as far as her [involvement with drugs], no."
Guerra was arrested on Christmas Day in 2022 for beating Soto.
A doorbell camera captured Guerra kicking Soto in the face after he screamed at her: "F--- you b----, you betrayed me," according to a San Antonio police report shared with NBC News.
Guerra "then began to punch [Soto] in the face with a closed fist 4 times on the left side of the face," the report said. Soto told detectives that Guerra later stood over her and kicked her "in the face multiple times," it said.
"It was an abusive relationship. We didn't approve of it," Corona said of his sister and her boyfriend. "We tried to tell her, 'That's not what you need.' Of course, at that age, you feel like you know everything. Love is powerful at that age. We couldn't separate them."
Guerra was placed on probation after he pleaded no contest to assault causing bodily injury on a domestic partner, court records showed.
Guerra's defense attorney Christopher Castro said the couple were "together as soon as they could be again.”
"I met Savanah, and she seemed nice," he said.
Castro also said he has no knowledge of his former client's having issues with drugs. The couple seemed to be on good terms despite the disturbing elements of the Christmas Day 2022 incident.
"I can tell you every time I called Matthew, Savanah was with him," Castro said.
Soto and Guerra were found Dec. 26 in a Kia Optima belonging to Guerra. The alleged murders took place five days earlier, just before midnight on Dec. 21, police said.
Police found Soto's body in the front passenger seat. Guerra's body was found in the back seat, and it appeared he had been dragged into the Optima, because he had "apparent drag marks on his back," according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed in Bexar County and obtained by NBC News.
A search of the Optima also turned up a shell casing but no gun, the affidavit said.
Security camera video police released after the bodies were discovered showed a heavy-set man driving a dark Chevrolet Silverado and another driving Guerra’s Kia. The two appeared to speak to each other out of the vehicles before driving away in separate directions.
Authorities suspect the victims were dead in the Optima when the video was taken, the affidavit said.
Police spoke with the families of Soto and Guerra right after their bodies were found. The affidavit said investigators learned Guerra sold drugs and would post money and drugs on Instagram.
"It was stated that people wanted to rob the boyfriend and it was stated the boyfriend had been shot before," the affidavit said.
Police connected the suspect's Silverado seen on security video to Ramon Preciado, who admitted driving his truck near where the Optima was found and said he was seen on the security video, the affidavit said. The elder Preciado also said he met his son, Christopher, who was driving Guerra's Optima at the apartment complex, where it was later found.
Christopher Preciado told police Guerra and Soto drove to his house, a few blocks from where the Optima was discovered, to sell him marijuana. Preciado's statements then were inconsistent with evidence found at the crime scene, the affidavit said.
"Christopher claimed the male victim pointed a weapon at him and Christopher was able to manipulate the weapon resulting in the female being shot," according to the affidavit. "Christopher then stated that ... the weapon pointed at him again and he manipulated the weapon again resulting in the male victim being shot."
Soto's cellphone played a pivotal role in leading police to the suspects' truck, officials said.
It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday afternoon whether Christopher and Ramon Preciado had hired or been assigned attorneys.
Soto was slain 19 months after her 15-year-old brother, Ethan Soto, was gunned down in what has been described as a dispute over money.
"It gives us a little peace knowing my sister's little family, that the person who killed them, is going toward justice," said her brother, Corona, 30, a warehouse supervisor. "Nothing will fill the emptiness of not having her and my nephew around."
It’s still too early for prosecutors to decide whether to charge Christopher Preciado with the death of Soto’s unborn child, who was to be named Fabian, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement Thursday.
"Under Texas law, an unborn child is included in the definition of a person. Therefore, Christopher Preciado can be charged with an additional count of capital murder for the death of baby Fabian," Gonzales said. "The District Attorney’s Office will await the filing of the complete case investigation in order to thoroughly review the facts and make the appropriate charging decisions."
Soto's family hopes charges in the death of Soto’s unborn child will come soon.
“We’re burying her with her baby in her arms,” Corona said. “It’s a human. We’re not laying her to rest with the baby in her stomach. It was a full-term baby. The baby will be in her arms.”
