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Police arrested and charged a father and son early Thursday in connection with the murder of a pregnant teenager who was about to give birth, and her boyfriend, in San Antonio last month.
Christopher Preciado, 19, was charged with capital murder while his father, 53-year-old Ramon Preciado, was charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping to move the bodies of Savanah Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, who were found shot dead in a car.
A conviction for capital murder is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment.
San Antonio Police Department confirmed the charges in a statement and said more charges are pending, possibly relating to the death of the unborn child.
Sgt. Washington Moscoso said in a news conference that Soto’s family raised the alarm when she missed an appointment to be chemically induced to give birth, a procedure typically offered to women who are past their due date or if there is a medical risk.
Detectives believe the deaths were related to a “narcotics deal that went bad,” he said.
The two suspects were filmed being led into a car by officers past waiting media in a clip shared by police after midnight.
The two bodies were found on Dec. 26 in a Kia Optima car belonging to Guerra, but the alleged murders took place five days earlier, just before midnight on Dec. 21, Moscoso said. Both died from gunshots to the head, the Bexar County Medical Examiner said.
Investigators are unsure where the alleged murders happened, but police said that the couple were killed and then taken to a street outside an apartment complex, where they were found.
Moscoso confirmed that Ramon Preciado wouldn’t be charged as an accomplice as he was not present at the time of the alleged murders.
Soto’s death has left her family stricken with grief and comes 19 months after her 15-year-old brother, Ethan Soto, was shot dead in what has been described as a dispute over money.
Moscoso said Soto’s cellphone was recovered from the car and that, with the help of the U.S. Secret Service, police were able to download enough information to identify and locate the suspects’ car, which was shown in security camera footage near the crime scene.
That 79-second clip, shared by police in an attempt to generate leads on the case, showed one man driving a dark Chevrolet Silverado and another driving Guerra’s Kia, who appear to speak to each other before driving off in separate directions.
“They did a little bit of surveillance on the vehicle, determined which house it belonged to, went and knocked on the door, the father answered the door and knew why the police were there — he cooperated with the investigation,” Moscoso said.
Moscoso added that the case had generated a huge amount of interest and generated much misinformation and speculation about who may be responsible. “These are the only suspects we’re looking for,” he said.
“She was scheduled to be induced and she didn’t make her appointment, which is why the family went to the police to file a missing persons report,” he said.
It was not immediately clear whether the two suspects had legal representation.
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