Jury selection is set to kick off Monday in Bexar County for Christopher Preciado, the man accused in the December 2023 killings of 18-year-old pregnant Savanah Soto, her boyfriend Matthew Guerra, and their unborn child. For both families, the start of the trial is a long-awaited turning point after more than a year of investigation, delays, and shifting co-defendant roles.
Charges and courtroom calendar
Preciado faces multiple capital murder counts, including allegations involving more than one victim and the killing of a child under 10, according to KENS 5. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday, March 16, in Judge Jennifer Peña’s courtroom and is expected to run through the week. Defense attorneys had previously pushed for a delay, arguing that pending lab tests needed to be completed before the case could move forward, which helped push the calendar into March.
What investigators say about the deaths
Investigators say Soto and Guerra were reported missing in late December 2023, then later found inside a gray Kia Optima parked in a Leon Valley apartment complex lot, both with gunshot wounds to the head, according to reporting from The Associated Press. Police-released surveillance video that captured a pickup and the couple’s car moving in and around the parking lot became a key piece of the puzzle. Detectives traced those images back to vehicles linked to the Preciado family, and in early January 2024, officers arrested Christopher Preciado and his father Ramon after tying the footage to the family’s movements.
Co-defendants and dropped charges
Prosecutors charged Ramon Preciado with allegedly helping to hide the victims’ remains and tampering with evidence. Another family member, stepmother Myrta Romanos, was initially arrested in the case but later had the charges against her dismissed in November 2025, according to San Antonio Current. That dismissal did not sit quietly with the victims’ relatives, who said they first learned the news through social media. Prosecutors have said that lab testing and other forensic work played into earlier continuances and scheduling fights across the related cases.
What to expect next
Given the publicity surrounding the killings and the stack of pretrial motions, jury selection is expected to be an intensive process, KENS 5 reports. If jurors ultimately convict Preciado on any of the capital counts, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office has previously said it will not seek the death penalty in this case, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
