(NewsNation) — Texas police arrested a father and son in connection with the death of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend, who were found shot to death a day after Christmas.
The San Antonio Police Department announced late Wednesday that Ramon Preciado, 53, and Christopher Preciado, 19, were been taken into custody. The son will be charged with capital murder and the father will be charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping his son move the couple’s bodies.
More charges are expected.
Online records for the Bexar County magistrate early Thursday did not indicate whether either man had attorneys and San Antonio police did not immediately respond to phone and email messages.
Savanah Soto, 18, was last seen in mid-December — one day before she was scheduled to be induced — at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, in Leon Valley, Texas.
Last week, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said two people found dead with gunshot wounds inside a car in San Antonio were believed to be the couple. Authorities said the two were fatally shot in the head before their bodies were moved and discovered days later in Guerra’s silver Kia Optima.
Investigators originally described the crime scene as “very, very perplexing.”
Police had released surveillance footage showing “persons of interest” in the case before the arrests.
Sgt. Washington Moscoso said Wednesday the shootings were the result of a drug deal gone wrong. He said police used data from Soto’s phone to locate a suspect vehicle seen in surveillance video.
Soto’s family has said she was overdue to deliver her baby and had been scheduled to have an induced labor when she went missing the weekend before Christmas. Moscoso said investigators now believe the couple were killed on Dec. 21, meaning they had been dead for several days before police found them in Guerra’s car the day after Christmas.
The killings have drawn attention beyond Texas, and Moscoso said “misinformation” about the case had taken off on social media.
“These two individuals are the only suspects that we were looking for,” he said.
Information on Soto’s cellphone that was found in the car led them to another vehicle that was seen on surveillance footage, which authorities publicly released last week in hopes that someone would recognize the persons in the video, Moscoso said.
That vehicle led police to a house where they found the father and son. He said Ramon Preciado answered the door and cooperated with the investigation.
“He knew why the police were there,” Moscoso said.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office had ruled both deaths homicides caused by gunshot wounds to the head. Moscoso did not specify where the killing took place before the couple was moved to the apartment complex.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
