SAN ANTONIO – A woman charged last month with concealing evidence in the December murders of Savanah Soto and Matthew Guerra had her bond drastically reduced Friday following a hearing in 186th District Court.
Appearing before Judge Miguel Najera, Myrta Romanos, 47, testified that she had been having financial troubles even before San Antonio police charged her on Jan. 10 with three felonies: abuse of a corpse, alter/destroy/conceal a human corpse and tampering with evidence.
When police questioned Romanos on Jan. 4, the day after Christopher and Ramon Preciado’s arrests, she said she did not recall the events from the night of Dec. 21 and stated that she thought she was asleep at the time, an arrest affidavit stated.
However, San Antonio police were able to place her at the scene after surveillance footage showed her returning home in the pickup truck with the two other suspects on the night of the shooting. The truck was seen in separate surveillance footage at the apartment complex where the bodies of Soto, who was nine months pregnant, and her boyfriend Guerra were found.
Police have said Christopher Preciado killed the couple during a drug deal gone bad and that his father, Ramon, and Romanos later helped him move the bodies to the Leon Valley apartment complex, where they were eventually discovered inside a car days later.
Romanos, who testified under oath that she is the wife of Ramon Preciado and the biological mother of suspect Christopher Preciado, had remained in jail ahead of Friday’s hearing on bonds totaling $1.1 million.
Her attorney, Charles Bunk, argued that the bonds were excessively high and being used as a “tool of oppression” to keep her in prison while she awaits indictment in the case.
He asked the court to reduce Romanos’ bonds to $250,000.
After examining multiple exhibits admitted during the hearing, Judge Najera returned to the bench and heard closing arguments.
Judge Najera then lowered the bonds from $1.1 million to $600,000.
It remained unclear late Friday if Romanos would be able to post bail at the lowered amount.
She testified that she had been unemployed for about 15 years after previously working in medical coding.
Christopher and Ramon Preciado remain at the Bexar County Jail.
The father and son are scheduled to make a court appearance in 290th District Court on April 16, records show.
Guerra’s family attended Friday’s hearing but declined to comment to KSAT as they left court following the 90-minute hearing.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.