BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – After nearly two hours (one hour and 56 minutes) of deliberations, a Bexar County jury found Christopher Preciado guilty on three counts of capital murder on Thursday afternoon.
Preciado was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Watch the full verdict in the below video player.
At least 20 Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies were present in the courtroom as Judge Jennifer Pena read the jury’s unanimous verdict just before 2:30 p.m.
Preciado, who pleaded not guilty, was on trial for the Dec. 21, 2023, murders of Matthew Guerra, Savanah Soto and their unborn child.
In a Thursday news release, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales expressed his thanks to jurors for returning a guilty verdict.
“The outcome of this case reflects a long and difficult journey for everyone involved, and we are deeply grateful to the jury for their role in achieving this conviction,” Gonzales said in the release. “While no sentence can undo the tragedy faced by the loved ones of Matthew and Savanah, it honors their memory and ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his actions.”
Family members and friends of Guerra and Soto read their victim impact statements moments after Preciado was convicted and sentenced.
Watch the full victim impact statements in the below video player.
In the moments after the verdict, KSAT anchors Myra Arthur and Ernie Zuniga presented extended coverage of Preciado’s verdict and sentencing on Thursday afternoon.
Watch KSAT’s extended coverage from Thursday afternoon in the below video player.
Jurors began deliberations at approximately 12:20 p.m.
Pena, who presided over the trial in Bexar County’s 290th Criminal District Court, began reading Preciado’s charge of the court just after 10 a.m.
Closings arguments began just before 10:30 a.m. and ended just after noon.
Ross Lewis, Bexar County co-prosecutor, first argued on behalf of the state.
“Three deaths. $300,” Lewis told the jury. “But here’s a note: you cannot rob someone in self-defense. The mugger doesn’t get to claim self-defense as they’re robbing you, and you’re putting up a fight. And they kill you.”
Lewis reminded the court of the state’s case built with 36 witnesses, including testimony from San Antonio Police Department detective Jeremy Goodwin.
“That’s why you heard from so many witnesses,” Lewis concluded. “And then (SAPD) detective (Jeremy) Goodwin was able to bring it all in — and bring it all together — so that it is very, very clear: that Matthew (Guerra) and Savanah (Soto) had no idea what was waiting for them."
Joseph Esparza, Preciado’s co-defense attorney, began the defense’s first closing argument.
“We don’t know what exactly happened in the vehicle that night, and that’s the truth of it,” Esparza told jurors. “We have a reconstruction. We know what they (the state) want you to believe, but all of the state’s witnesses — including their experts — were unanimous. They don’t know and can’t tell you what happened in the vehicle that night, and that’s the core problem of this case."
Esparza concluded his closing argument. His colleague, fellow co-defense attorney Monica Guerrero, started her closing argument.
“I wrote a list here,” Guerrero told the court. “So, there is no eyewitness. There’s no one here that is an eyewitness to this case. No one. There’s no video. There’s never a video anywhere inside that vehicle. There’s no GoPro’s. There’s no hidden video anywhere that shows what happened.”
Guerrero also told the jury there wasn’t gunshot residue or DNA evidence presented in court that linked Preciado to the shooting.
As her closing argument continued, Guerrero said there was a “lot of bad parenting going on here.”
“He (Preciado) had a sweatshirt that says, ‘Virginity Rocks.’ It’s in the pictures,” Guerrero said in court. “I can’t find it right now, but they (the state) showed it to you all. This is the kind of guy that they’re saying is a stone cold executioner, to use (Bexar County co-prosecutor) Ms. (Melissa) Alban’s word when she started this case. That these people were executed. They’re saying that guy (Preciado) is an executioner. She showed you pictures at the very beginning of Matthew (Guerra) holding a gun.”
Guerrero also argued against Soto’s line of thinking for “going to a drug deal.”
“Does she (Soto) not watch TV?” Guerrero asked in court, in part. “Drug deals go bad. I mean, even in their apartment, he (Guerra) has a big poster of ‘Scarface.’ Even that little medal that he wears is a tribute of ‘Scarface.’ And, at the end of ‘Scarface,’ ‘Scarface’ is no longer around. So, it’s like ‘Scarface’ meets the ‘Queen of the South,’ and she (Soto) joins the family business, too.”
After Guerrero, Alban began the state’s final closing argument.
Alban told jurors that the prosecution “did not shy away from the fact” that Guerra was a drug dealer.
“That doesn’t mean they deserved what happened to them,” Alban said. “That does not justify the execution that this man (Preciado) perpetrated on them. It doesn’t.”
Alban also responded to Guerrero’s earlier argument about a lack of DNA evidence in this case.
“So, no. We don’t have DNA because they (Alban gestured in the Preciados’ direction) destroyed it. That is a fact. He (Preciado) even stated that they ‘wiped it down.’ … What you see on TV and crime scene shows and true crime movies isn’t real. … So, there is no DNA result from the gun. It’s not that the DNA proved that it wasn’t Chris(topher) that touched it; it’s that there is no result. It was not analyzed. It was sent, but it wasn’t analyzed.”
Watch the prosecution and the defense’s Thursday closing arguments in the below video player.
Background
Soto, who was expected to be induced to deliver her son, never showed up for her appointment on Dec. 22, 2023.
Soto and her boyfriend, Guerra, were last heard from on Dec. 21, 2023, according to family and police statements.
Soto’s family soon reported her as a missing person. Authorities issued a statewide CLEAR Alert on Christmas Day.
One day later, on Dec. 26, 2023, police said Soto and Guerra were found dead in Guerra’s vehicle at a Leon Valley apartment complex.
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.
Authorities later arrested Myrta Romanos, Christopher Preciado’s mother, on allegations that she tried to help cover up the crime.
Soto and Guerra’s families said they did not know Christopher and Ramon Preciado. Police said the dispute that led to the killings began with a drug deal.
According to an arrest affidavit, Christopher Preciado told police that Guerra pulled a gun on him and that he was able to “manipulate it.” Soto and Guerra were shot during that sequence.
In February 2025, Ramon Preciado was released from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center after his bond was reduced.
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.
Witness testimony in Christopher Preciado’s trial concluded on Wednesday, March 25, the seventh day of trial. In all, the prosecution called 36 witnesses to the stand.
The witness list included law enforcement officers from multiple agencies, an expert witness and family members from the Guerra and Soto families.
The witness list also included Ramon Preciado and Romanos, but neither were asked to testify.
More coverage of the Christopher Preciado capital murder trial on KSAT: