SERIALously - 115: Young Couple Executed: Feat. MWMH's Payton Moreland | The Savanah Soto Case

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Today Annie is sitting down with Payton Moreland from the hit podcast Murder With My Husband and Into The Dark. Annie and Payton delve into a current case that has been highly requested and has a lot of layers. We know there is no stronger bond than family, but what happens when family asks you to help them with the unimaginable? Follow Murder With My Husband https://linktr.ee/intothedarkpod Follow Into The Dark https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Shop the Merch: www.shop10tolife.com    Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast        Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/      Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise      All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_      SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/      About Me: https://annieelise.com/      For Business Inquiries: [e-mail]

Hey, true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise, and I am very excited today because I have a very special guest joining me. If you're watching the video version of this, you probably recognize her already, but for those of you who are listening to the audio, I have Peyton Moreland with me. She is one of the hosts for Murder With My Husband. She also has her own podcast, Into the Dark, which is like incredibly amazing. So good. So I have Peyton with me today. I'm super excited.

I am so excited for this. Annie actually came on my show yesterday and it was such a blast. The episode was great. I can't wait to hear it. I think that we are just a power duo. I like it. I'm into it. We went to lunch a few months back now.

Yeah. That's right. It's been a while. So we've been trying to coordinate this. So I'm happy we're able to make it happen. It's great. I'm so excited to be here. Hi, everyone.

I love this show. This is going to be great. Oh, good. I'm so excited. So today, we're going to be talking about a case that we've touched on a few times on this channel, but more in our Thursday Headline Highlights Wrap-Up episodes. But today we're going to go over everything start to finish, some more of the details. There's been some new updates. Of course, once we get into it, you'll understand there's

been a third arrest. So Peyton and I are just going to take you through everything, kind of start to finish with this case and where we're at now. With that, I want are just going to take you through everything, kind of start to finish with this case and where we're at now. With that, I want to just say I kind of have this thought that's a really big part of today's episode and kind of an undertone throughout it as well. And it's that pretty much everyone, no matter where they're from or what generation or culture they belong to, they all agree that family is important, right? Parents have to nurture, they have to support their children. Siblings may argue or fight here and there,

but they always really have each other's backs. And found family is important as well. The people who maybe aren't related to you by blood, but end up becoming your family and are really irreplaceable in your life. Your family, however you define that word, are some of the only people that you can count on no matter what. Which honestly can sometimes be a problem, especially if your family encourages you to do something that is not in your best interest. Or if your relatives maybe get into a conflict with somebody else and they expect you to take their side,

even though you know that they might be in the wrong and it just makes everything super uncomfortable. So all in all, family can be great, but it can also kind of lead you astray sometimes in some ways. So keep that in mind today while we cover the murder of Savannah Soto and also the murder of her unborn baby Fabian and her boyfriend Matthew Guerrera. So as I mentioned, longtime listeners know that I have touched on this case a couple of times already. I released one episode, I think it was really on early on in the investigation, and then two of the short updates as developments were breaking. So don't worry if you haven't listened to any of those yet. I'm going to cover all of those details again and then again include some new information as we go, like an analysis of the police's methods

and the ways that the very public nature of their investigation truly shaped this story. So let's dive right in. Now we can't discuss what happened to Savannah and Matthew without covering their romantic relationship, which honestly was rocky to say the least. The more we researched, the more we uncovered, it painted a pretty tumultuous picture. Starting with Savannah, Savannah was a high school student in San Antonio,as when she first met matthew through mutual friends savannah was 15 or 16 and matthew was four years older than her so he was a legal adult and they started dating pretty quickly after they met now that age gap immediately for me sends up some red flags personally i've shared it on the podcast before

i'll share it with you now peyton my first serious boyfriend my first time doing anything i was 17 he was 26 it was not good so good situations like this especially raise a red flag especially in the true crime genre yes yes like if that's what we're talking about it's probably not good that there's that big of an age gap 100 however in te Texas, the age of consent is 17. They do have what is called a Romeo and Juliet exemption, meaning that a young person can legally have sex with a partner who is up to three years older than them. But Matt didn't fit that bill. He was four years older than her. So this meant that if they did have any sexual contact at all during the first two or so years of their relationship, technically it was legally statutory rape. Right, and it's not

that the law is the be-all end-all of sexual ethics, but the reason rules like this exist is to protect young people. A 15 or 16 year old like Savannah, who was a sophomore in high school, just doesn't have the kind of life experience that a 19 or 20 year old does. It's sadly easy for some predatory adults to manipulate less mature and less experienced partners. Absolutely. And based on some statements from Savannah's family, her relatives didn't approve of Matthew or their relationship. And honestly, understandably so. Her mother, Gloria Cordova, and her brothers, Gerald, Jordan, and Ethan, also had very good reasons for their reservations. I mean, your family is supposed to look out for your best interests and to speak up if they see anything alarming,

like a 19-year-old pursuing a high school sophomore. But in spite of their protests, Savannah was all in with her new boyfriend, Matthew. She didn't invite Matthew to any of the family gatherings because she wanted to kind of mitigate some of the tension with her relatives, but she and Matthew truly loved each other. They were completely committed. And in an interview with CBS News, Matthew's father described the two as inseparable. However, even beyond that age gap, this romance had a dark side. Soon after they started dating, Savannah dropped out of school. Now, I don't know if Matthew actually had anything to do with that decision,

but the timing of it all must have given her family some pause. Plus, Matthew had a history of posting these very disturbing images and videos on Instagram. Think about this, like pictures of himself flashing these huge mega huge wads of cash and then also posing with drugs, different controlled substances. His social media really made him look like a drug dealer. If you didn't know any better, that's definitely the image it looked as though he was trying to portray. And he wasn't just showing off for attention. It wasn't just kind of pretending to be this person and flexing. Matthew got arrested a couple of times, and his family members told the press that they were aware of his criminal activities,

including drug dealing. His father gave an interview where he said Matthew quote didn't hang around with the best crowd but by and large he and his other relatives still said Matthew was a decent person. His mother even claimed that he only engaged in criminal activities because he needed the cash but this shouldn't reflect on his character. But the biggest issue was that Matthew was also physically abusive. Apparently, Matthew and Savannah fought regularly, and these arguments frequently escalated to becoming physical. Matthew would hit Savannah repeatedly. A neighbor said it happened every day, and this anonymous person added that on one occasion they watched as Matthew beat Savannah until she passed out guys and then he kept hitting her while she was unconscious. This beating was

so severe that she ended up having to get stitches. One particular incident in 2022 was a tipping point for them. It was Christmas Day, and once again, Matthew physically attacked Savannah. But this time around, the abuse happened on tape. A Ring doorbell camera actually captured him punching and kicking Savannah in the face. He yelled, fuck you, bitch, you betrayed me. So this time around, the police got involved. And when they responded to the domestic disturbance call, Matthew didn't deny what he had done. He was arrested, he didn't contest the charges, and he ended up on probation for the assault. The court also issued a restraining order. Initially, Matthew wasn't supposed to have any contact

with Savannah whatsoever. And as things like this usually go, he violated that order just two weeks later and he got arrested again. Now that, of course, all sounds bad. But somehow, at some point afterward, the terms around his restraining order began to loosen up. Now it didn't completely prevent him from talking to Savannah, but it did say that he couldn't contact her in a harmful manner. So basically, they could just keep seeing each other so long as he didn't threaten her or hurt her again. Understandably, that wasn't good enough for Savannah's loved ones and her family, though. Her mother, Gloria, begged her to break up with Matthew, but she wouldn't. Gloria attributed this to Savannah

being young and stubborn. However, she thought her daughter was starting to come around to her way of seeing things. She said, I think this time she was going to leave him already. That's what I'm hearing. But I'm not convinced that Savannah's youth and willfulness were the only factors keeping her with Matthew. She was also grieving. You see, on May 16, 2022, just over seven months before this Christmas violent incident took place, Savannah's 15-year-old brother was murdered. His name was Ethan, and like Matthew, Ethan had a criminal history that included drug dealing. The day before he died, Ethan reportedly stole $60 worth of THC cartridges from another teenager named Victor Rivas. Victor flew into a rage because of this and sped over

to Ethan's home. He actually fired a gun at the house, but he didn't hit anyone. And understandably, this was very upsetting for Ethan's family. So Gloria, his mother, tried to de-escalate the situation by paying Victor off for her son. I guess she thought that if she compensated him for the stolen cannabis, he would just leave them alone. And Victor accepted the cash from her. So you would think, okay, situation is now resolved. Except allegedly, he was still murderously angry at Ethan. He thought that Ethan needed to pay, and he thought he needed to pay with his life. Again, this is over $60 worth of marijuana. That's been paid back. Yeah, that's been paid back, exactly. So officials claim that Victor

convinced another person to pretend that they were interested in buying drugs from Ethan. person to pretend that they were interested in buying drugs from Ethan. She sent him a message on Instagram and arranged a time and a place to buy the same THC cartridges that he had stolen. Of course, when Ethan showed up to go to that deal, he didn't see his buyer. It was Victor, who allegedly fatally shot him and then fled the scene. But it didn't take police very long to find Victor. His cell phone GPS put him right at the scene of the crime, and his Instagram messages with the girl who posed as the drug buyer made it pretty obvious that he was behind all of it. So it took about a year for Victor to attend his first hearing for the murder,

and obviously the Soto-Cordova family was still feeling raw about the senseless violence. In fact, during his testimony, Victor made some kind of gesture that just sent them off. Ethan's family members charged him, and this massive brawl broke out inside the courtroom. Four people, including two minors, ended up facing charges of disruption of court and assault. Which I have to say, obviously it's not great when a trial devolves into a fistfight, right? The criminal justice system can't function if witnesses and defendants have to worry that somebody is going to run up and hit them. But all of that said, I get that grief can make it very difficult for people to think logically. This is a really emotionally charged situation, and it's safe to say that Savannah, in particular, was probably heartbroken

and also angry and confused and just experiencing all of the other feelings that come with a sudden and violent loss. So Matthew probably felt comfortable and safe by comparison, and she might not have been ready to deal with the stress of a breakup and have everything else going on at the same time. And as if that wasn't enough, a few months after Ethan died in early 2023, Savannah learned that she was pregnant with Matthew's baby. So a little context. By now, Savannah was 18 years old, and Matthew was 22 years old. They had been dating for a little over three years and this was after that Christmas Day assault that Matthew got arrested. So in spite of all of that, it sounds like the young couple was actually thrilled to learn about this pregnancy. Savannah

actually petitioned the courts to remove the restraining order and she got it overturned. And this was all in spite of the fact that Matthew failed to attend any of the anti-domestic violence classes that he had been ordered to take. So it's not like Matthew definitively proved that he had been reformed and he was this great guy again. He kind of just lucked out. And that said, Matthew's parents actually say that he turned his life around when he found out that Savannah was expecting. Now that he knew he was going to be a father, he was rethinking his decisions, trying to be there for Savannah and cleaning up his act. His father, Gabriel, even said that Matthew never hit Savannah once he realized she was carrying his child, which I mean, what a standard.

I know. Right. The line is line is high I know it sounds like a pretty low bar to clear honestly but I do get that it is an improvement over his previous abusive behavior this is of course if you believe what his family said but of course they weren't exactly unbiased Savannah's aunt Laura Cordova noticed that she kept getting new bruises and she suspected that Matthew was still hitting her, a pretty major contradiction from what Gabriel had said. Plus, Matthew kept getting into legal trouble as well. In March, he was arrested for the illegal possession of a weapon, and then six months later in September, he got arrested again for a couple of new charges, including, once more,

an illegal weapon. Now, this raises the big question that you have to ask anytime somebody claims that they have reformed. You have to wonder, have they really changed? Or are they just saying what they think you want to hear? And of course, some people really do want to become better people and improve their lives, but then they backslide later sometimes. Exactly. So we know the Soto-Kudorva family had their doubts about Matthew, but no matter how they felt, he was a part of Savannah's life now. They shared an apartment together, they were baby-proofing, and generally speaking, the future parents were fully committed to their expanding family. According to Savannah's aunt, she also did a lot

of growing up in the months leading up to her due date. She was planning for the future. She had a job at a senior care facility, and now she was thinking about finishing school and even becoming a nurse. And when Savannah learned that she was expecting a boy, she and Matthew picked out the perfect name for him, baby Fabian. He was due in late December, and in anticipation, Savannah had her bags all packed up so that she could just grab them, go as soon as she went into labor. But it didn't work out that way. Her due date came and went, and no baby.

A week passed, and finally she and Matthew scheduled an inducement for 6.30 a.m. on the 23rd. The night before, she texted her mom warning her that even though the appointment was very early in the morning, she better show up on time. But when the inducement failed to happen, it wasn't because of her mother. Savannah was actually a no-show for this appointment. And this was completely unlike her.

Like we mentioned before she was thrilled to become a mom she had no reason to blow off her appointment and not to mention it's not like it's super comfortable to be over nine months pregnant like this has been there twice yeah this is definitely not an appointment you probably can't miss yes what was savannah going to do instead of showing up for the doctor or hang out with her friends, go see a movie? No, if she wasn't at the hospital, that meant something was probably very, very wrong, especially because it came out pretty quickly that nobody had actually seen her since 2 p.m. the day before. On top of that, Matthew was also missing. Nobody could get a hold of him and nobody had seen him since the same time. So when Savannah's mother Gloria posted on Facebook that day,

she suggested that Matthew was no good and she also said that she was worried about Savannah's safety because Savannah was last seen with him and they had that history together. So that day, local police officers did a wellness check at Savannah and Matthew's apartment. There were no signs of violence or of forced entry, but also there was no sign of the missing father and mother-to-be. Matthew's car was also gone. He owned a 2013 gray Kia Ultima, and it wasn't parked at the apartment. This suggested that maybe he and Savannah had drove somewhere together. The question being, did Savannah get in the car with him willingly? The day after the disappearance

on December 24, 2023 at around 4 p.m., the local police department issued a clear alert for Savannah. That stands for Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue. It's a special alert that goes out when an adult goes missing under circumstances that suggest that they are in immediate danger or may have been taken against their will. Kind of like an Amber Alert, but for an adult. There wasn't, however, any clear alert issued for Matthew. The officials never spoke as to why, but reading between the lines, it's possible that they suspected that Matthew might have been responsible for Savannah's disappearance, so maybe they weren't as concerned about his safety as they

were about hers. Of course, Savannah's relatives immediately pointed the finger at Matthew, suggesting that he must have done something to make her miss this appointment, which honestly makes sense, because if they already didn't like him him and they saw him as this violent, abusive drug dealer, and now their daughter goes missing, where else is your mind going to go? I mean, the math math is there. There's a good reason that people say that when a woman disappears, you always look at the boyfriend or the husband first. Domestic partner violence is to blame for more than one in three murders where the victim is female. You heard that right, guys. One in three. This is actually a shocking statistic. And I say this often on Murder With My Husband because that show is done with my husband and I tell him all the time, you know, statistically, you're the most

dangerous person I could be sitting in this room with. Yes. Like we're sitting here listening to true crime. So scared of these like ominous beings who are going to come kill us when like realistically realistically it's probably our spouse. A hundred percent. It's creepy to think about. And here's another shocking statistic. Almost one in five women experience domestic violence while they're expecting and it's more common during unplanned pregnancies like Savannah's was. So she was especially vulnerable and her partner Matthew already had a history of abuse. Even if he wasn't the culprit himself, he hung out with a crowd that

was also pretty concerning. Savannah's older brother Gerald actually said in an interview, we're not saying Matthew killed her, but it still has to do with his actions and his lifestyle. The police distributed Savannah's picture and description everywhere, hoping that someone might have seen her and could share some sort of tip or lead. As soon as her disappearance started trending online, true crime fans started coming up with all kinds of theories about what might have really happened to Savannah and Matthew, because you know once a case hits the internet internet the true crime sleuths get all over it. Now many of these rumors blamed Matthew just like Savannah's family had. His

stepbrother told a reporter that he was frustrated by all of this because complete strangers who knew nothing about Matthew or his life were now calling him just another thug off the street. And some people were even suggesting that Matthew's siblings or parents might have done something to Savannah. The rumors were so nasty, his brother actually posted online reminding people that he and his family weren't suspects. They were worried about Matthew and they hadn't done anything wrong. They shouldn't have to defend themselves while they were going through such a difficult time. And obviously you shouldn't attack someone just because they're related to somebody who strikes you as suspicious. But the Guerra family didn't deserve all of this finger pointing.

Not at all. And it's a real shame because there was one other family that understood exactly what they were going through. That was Savannah's family. But because of all of the bad blood between them, they just couldn't figure out a way to support one another. And you have to imagine the Soto-Cordova family and how they were trying to cling to hope that somehow, against all of the odds, any day now Savannah was going to come home, safe and sound. But those hopes were completely dashed on December 26th, three days after she first went missing. That day, a resident in an apartment complex spotted a gray Kia Altima that was parked in their lot. So now Savannah and

Matthew's disappearance had become big news by this point. So this person immediately recognized that car. They sent a Facebook message to Savannah's sister-in-law, and then Savannah's relatives passed the information along to the police. And when detectives arrived, they saw someone in the front seat of that parked car, and it was Savannah. The police report says she had trauma to the head, which I'm going to be honest is putting it mildly. She'd been shot execution style behind the ear. She was dead, as was her unborn baby.

Fabian never got to live for a single day. As terrible as all of this was, at least Matthew's family was somewhat vindicated through all of this. They now had evidence that he had nothing to do with Savannah's murder. And unfortunately, that's because he had been killed too. murder, and unfortunately, that's because he had been killed too. The police were able to make some educated guesses about how Savannah and Matthew died based on the evidence at the scene. Like Peyton just said, Savannah was in the Kia's front seat, and Matthew was in the back seat, and according to Gloria Cordova, Savannah had Fabian's car seat in her lap. Both of them had so-called drag marks on their bodies, meaning they probably hadn't been killed in the Ultima. More likely, they were shot somewhere else, and then

the killer or killers dumped their corpses in the car. There was blood smeared across the back seat, which supported that theory. And while police found shell casings in the Kia, there was no sign of the murder weapon. So now what had been a missing persons case became a double homicide investigation. I mean triple if you're considering little baby Fabian at this point. And it was only a matter of time before Savannah and Matthew's families turned on each other even more. More than they already had. The Sotos and the Cordovas continued to insist that Matthew did something to get Savannah killed. Her mother, Gloria, even told a CBS reporter, I think it had something to do with him and all the things that he was doing,

not my daughter. She was just there at the wrong time. And the Guerras responded that, hey, Matthew was a victim in this too, and it's really unfair to point fingers in these circumstances. Obviously, emotions were high as two separate families were now grieving. So Savannah's relatives arranged a very hasty memorial service for her in San Antonio Park. Two years before, in this exact same park, they had planted a tree in honor of her murdered brother, Ethan. Now, after losing a second teenager to a senseless homicide, Savannah's loved ones planted another tree, right next to that original one. They wore pink jackets, and they released doves and balloons.

It was a very solemn gathering, but even in this vulnerable moment, the Soto-Cordovas could not be left alone. There were reporters everywhere asking for statements through this entire event, and it didn't help that by now, Savannah's story was huge in the online true crime community. We all know that you can't put the genie back in the bottle, and since the police had used the internet, particularly had used social networking, so extensively when Savannah and Matthew had gone missing, now there were tons and tons of eyes on every new development.

And all that attention came with wild speculation and, in some cases, conspiracy theories that had no basis in reality. And look, I get that when true crimers go online they are genuinely trying to help they are trying to solve the case and look at what happened with Gabby Petito it worked it right but then there's this ugly side to true crime online which is these conspiracy theories and these rumors that just cause more revictimizing to the family and even the victims themselves absolutely you said it so well there. An FBI agent even wrote on X, you know, Twitter, now X, saying that Savannah's murder was the story

of gang life. She tried to suggest that because Savannah's brother Ethan was murdered selling weed, that that meant that Savannah was caught in some kind of cycle of violent crime. It came across as a really gross and honestly kind of victim blaming against both Savannah and Ethan as well. And other people were saying that Savannah actually attacked Matthew and that she was the one responsible for the murders or that she was using Matthew for the money that he made selling all of these drugs. Because remember, he was posting about it all the time. It was just wild, wild stuff. And like I said, this is just one of the big challenges when it comes to true crime podcasting, because you want to raise awareness and advocate for victims, especially with open investigations, where any one tip could

break a case wide open or save a missing person's life. But when you invite the wider world to play detective, some people just aren't going to do that responsibly. I agree. And to your point earlier, while in general, the rule of thumb I like to believe is that true crime, the community and the creators are trying to do good. I'm sure you've seen it. Sometimes there are those select people who they're more interested in the clicks. They're more interested in pushing the conspiracies, not realizing how poorly it can affect the families and the victims lives but also snowball to where then they get the keyboard warriors behind it pushing that same theory out and it's not just true crime podcasters or true crimers i mean the

fbi agent even posted on x and was like hey this is a gang thing look at what happened to her brother i mean when you even have officials getting those theories going before the case has even been solved like we haven't even been told what's going on that's not helpful to the case not at all sidebar actually have you seen the new netflix documentary about the um couple up in vallejo american nightmare yeah yes so we covered this a couple weeks ago on the podcast they did the exact same thing they were dubbing it gone girl all that she was behind it he was behind it it's so reckless even though if they would have just looked at the evidence the stories matched the evidence makes sense was it an unbelievable story and it was it honestly fair that they doubted it at first

for sure you have to look at every avenue yeah but when evidence came forward that was kind of backing what they were saying it's time to put the theories away and like do your job yeah put your tail between your legs you were wrong you jumped the gun that's okay exactly it happens to everybody yeah i know i know now in matthew and savannah's case their relatives complained that these online rumors and the speculation were just of course course, wildly off base. One article with the San Antonio Express News quoted an unidentified member of Matthew's family. This anonymous relative posted on social media begging people to stop theorizing and just leave Savannah, Matthew, and everybody who knew them alone. But it was really hard to honor this request because even

while the Soto-Cordova's were asking for privacy, the police were still crowdsourcing tips. They described the crime scene where the bodies were found as perplexing. They seemed eager for just about any piece of information that they could get. And just two days after they found Savannah and Matthew's bodies, they released a clip of security camera footage that was recorded in that same parking lot where their remains had been found. The footage was only a minute long, but those 60 or so seconds were honestly chilling. It was literally footage of people covering up a double homicide. When this footage first went out, it was very eerie and

scary to watch, and of course, the internet took it like wildfire, and it was just, everybody was going live about it, everybody was talking about it, who could it be? People were comparing side by sides of people at the vigil saying, could this be? I mean, it got so out of hand. And so let me describe this footage if you haven't seen it, guys. It showed a parking lot very late at night, and in the clip, there are a couple of cars that are parked toward the left side of the frame but for the most part the cameras pointed at a largely empty stretch of concrete. Now that is until a gray Silverado truck comes up from the

right and simultaneously a Kia Ultima, Matthew's car, the one where he and Savannah's bodies were discovered and this starts approaching from the left. The vehicle pulls up right beside one another, so it's pretty clear that they did arrange to meet here. Then the driver's side door of the truck swings open, and a heavyset man in a white shirt gets out and walks over to the driver's window of the Kia. shirt, gets out and walks over to the driver's window of the Kia. Then the Ultima's door pops open and the man sort of leans toward the car like he's talking to the driver. Now I really want to highlight what happens next because it became very important later in the investigation. This man apparently wraps up his conversation and he turns back toward the truck like he's going to get back in.

But then this white towel comes flying out from the inside of the truck and it lands on the edge of the driver's seat. If you watch the original footage that the police released, this is really hard to see. The truck and the Kia Ultima are both parked some distance from the camera, and add that it was dark and the towel was pretty small, it all makes it really hard to see much detail at all. But thank god for the true crime fans, right? Because tens of thousands of people viewed this clip on Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it. Some people recut this security footage, and they started zooming in on the truck and also on the Kia. And on these edited clips, it is crystal clear.

The towel comes flying from inside the Silverado toward the man. And obviously, the towel didn't just get up on its own and like fly towards him. It doesn't have wings. It's not a magic carpet. So there must have been someone in the front passenger seat who tossed it to him. But again, the truck is very far away, plus it's dark, so you can't actually see inside to confirm if anybody is in there. Either way, the man grabbed the towel and used it to wipe the Kia's door. Presumably, he was trying to clean off any fingerprints or other evidence that might have been on the handle. And while he was cleaning,

the driver of the Kia got out for a second. And unfortunately, it's hard to make out any of that person's features. So at that point, presumably the two individuals were done with whatever they had planned. The man got back into the truck and the other person got back into the Kia. Then the two vehicles drove off in opposite directions. And that is where the clip ends. So the authorities released this footage and asked the public for tips about the people in the video. A ton of people responded with speculation, observations, you name it. The internet has blown up with people sending tips and people just sending misinformation. There's a lot of misinformation out there.

Apparently, a lot of these misleading tips were allegations against completely innocent people as well. Luckily, the police could clear the falsely accused pretty easily. But still, I mean, it was pretty reckless. It was scary. On the upside, the detectives weren't exclusively counting on true crime fans. They were conducting their own investigation, most of which they didn't publicize. So it wasn't common knowledge at the time, but when the investigators discovered Savannah and Matthew's bodies, they also found Savannah's cell phone, which was a goldmine of information. Later on in a press conference, Sergeant Washington Moscaso with the San Antonio Police Department explained. One of the key pieces of evidence that we did collect at the scene was Savannah's

cell phone and so that was handed over to our technology team who was able to download some information on there. With the assistance of the US Secret Service we were able to get enough information, and so that information was given to our detectives today. With that information, the detectives were able to find a possible location of where the suspect vehicle that was released on that surveillance camera, the surveillance video, a possible location where that suspect vehicle might be." They learned that the night that they went missing, S

address on Charlie Chan d Texas. It was just a few parking lot where her bod Then about 10 minutes bef same night, she pinged of the exact same neighborho like she was looking up directions to that address, right? And it was a house in a residential neighborhood. And then she drove

there. Four minutes after that ping, her phone traveled to the apartment complex where her and Matthew's bodies were eventually found. So clearly, Savannah and Matthew encountered someone on or near Charlie Chan Drive who killed them and dumped their bodies right afterward. Exactly. So the police took a closer look at the people who lived at that particular address. They also set up surveillance cameras. When they reviewed the tapes later, they saw somebody driving a gray Chevy Silverado, just like the one that appeared in that security footage. So they ran the plates and then they identified the owner. It was Ramon Presidio, a large man who bore a striking similarity to the man driving the truck in the footage. It was a jackpot. And when investigators

knocked on the door, Ramon answered and it didn't take long for him to confirm the detective's suspicions. Sergeant Monscaso noted, they went up, knocked on the door. The first gentleman, I'm sorry, the first individual, the father answered the door. He knew why the police were there, was cooperated fully with the investigation. We're right here at the headquarters, and our detectives were able to start interviewing both the son and the father. Again, they were both at the home. They were both brought down here, and the interrogations began. That was a reference to Ramon and his 19-year-old son, Christopher Preciado,

who both agreed to go back to the police station for an interrogation. There, they each admitted the truth. Christopher had killed Matthew and Savannah. Then he asked Ramon for help covering it up. Ramon drove to that parking lot to wipe the fingerprints off the Kia. Then Christopher rode home with his dad, leaving the Ultima with the bodies in it behind. And before we move on, I just want to touch on one thought. It is wild that Ramon, knowing absolutely nothing about Savannah or Matthew, just stepped in to help his son cover up a murder. No questions asked. And like casually leaned on the car to talk to him with presumably dead bodies inside. Yep. So sometimes people will joke that your best friends or family members

are the ones who will help you bury the bodies, but you don't really expect someone to take it as literally as they did. Definitely not. And in a way, Ramon had that in common with the Soto-Cordovas and the Guerras. Savannah's family spent the whole investigation looking out for her interests, defending her reputation, and advocating for her justice. And Matthew's family did the same thing, pushing back against the negative speculation about him, trying to set the record straight and remind the public of his good qualities.

So Ramon was just one more person who did everything he could to protect his family. Now unfortunately, in his case, protecting Christopher meant helping him cover up a horrific crime. Absolutely not defending him in any way, but I do find that similarity interesting. It is wild. But back to the investigation, all of these events, the police showing up at Ramon and Christopher's front door, the interrogation and the confession happened on the afternoon of January 3rd, 2024. It was a pretty busy day, I will say that. And that same evening, the police issued a warrant for Ramon and Christopher's arrest. Christopher was charged with capital murder and other issues related to the abuse and concealment

of Savannah and Matthew's bodies. Ramon was only charged in relation to hiding evidence and mishandling the corpses. The police also indicated to reporters that more charges might come down the line later on through their investigation. In particular, they hadn't decided yet whether to include unborn baby Fabian's death as a third homicide. They also still had to decide whether to pursue the death penalty against Christopher. Now this, though, didn't stop the authorities from perp-walking Christopher and Ramon in handcuffs into their squad cars while the press all watched and just was yelling at them, asking them all sorts of questions. And for the most part, the two were pretty quiet, even while journalists shouted questions at them. With one exception, when someone asked Ramon if he had any regrets, Ramon answered this.

Later, he echoed that sentiment about fake news, saying, Did you shoot them? Oh, you killed them. Now, I know he's a little hard to hear in that clip. Ramon said, aren't you sorry for lying about what you're saying? You don't even know what's going on. You just make stuff up like always. And I have to say, at first, this sounded like a really weird comment to make.

I mean, Ramon and Christopher had already admitted that Christopher killed Savannah and Matthew, and Ramon had helped him hide it. So they were arrested for crimes that they had apparently already admitted they committed. So what's with this sudden new claim that the murder charges were now all fake news? It sounded like they were implying that the story that the police were telling about them did not fit reality. That may be because while Christopher and Ramon admitted they'd either killed Savannah and Matthew or disposed of their bodies later, they didn't actually confess to murder. In his interrogation, Christopher said

he shot Savannah and Matthew in self-defense. According to Christopher, Matthew and Savannah weren't actually murdered at all. Instead, they died in a shootout that they initiated. To hear Christopher tell it, the couple came over to his place late on the night of December 21st to sell him some weed. He never had any intention of hurting the pair, but in the midst of the deal, Matthew drew a gun. Christopher says he tried to disarm Matthew and Matthew fought back. Then Christopher manipulated the gun. That's an exact quote from his arrest affidavit. It went off hitting Savannah. According to Christopher, Matthew aimed the gun at him again.

And once more, he manipulated the gun and made it discharge again. And this time it hit Matthew. So yes, Christopher told the police that he did shoot them both, but he insisted that he wasn't at fault, legally or ethically. He was just trying to defend himself, and it was a complete accident that Savannah and Matthew ended up dead. Now the problem was that Christopher's testimony just did not at all fit the ballistics evidence. Savannah and Matthew were both shot in the head, right behind the ear. So if Christopher's story was true, that would mean that somehow a pair of accidental discharges both happened to hit them in the exact same place?

That to me just sounds way too unlikely. It ain't working for me. Especially because the injury on Matthew's head had signs of being a contact gunshot wound that's a term that means that the gun was pressed right against his skin when it went off indicating more that this was in fact an execution which okay so let's try to piece together how this would fit at all with Christopher's testimony let's play devil's advocate for a minute he and Matthew were kind of fighting over the gun and then in the course of the fight it went off hitting Savannah. And that part of the story does sound possible at least. Of course

Savannah would have to be looking away from the fight for the bullet to strike her in the back of the head which doesn't really sound likely. But again, it's not impossible. Right. And it's the next part of the account that really strains credibility for me. So even though Christopher has fatally shot Savannah, he and Matthew are still fighting over this weapon. They're still arguing over the gun. They're not distracted by this shoot going off and the bullet going. And then somehow Christopher gets the gun directly behind Matthew's head

with the barrel pressed up right next to him. And then again, just manipulates the weapon just to go off again right behind the ear. Now, in fairness, Christopher didn't actually say that he shot Matthew at point blank range, but that just makes his story even more suspicious. Like if you're going to claim that you shot someone on accident, you'd better have a damn good explanation if there are contact wounds. Like, how did the gun touch the skin? Exactly. I think it's safe to say that Christopher's account was probably a self-serving lie. I mean, no, the homicides did not happen that way. Let's just call it what it is. Still, the police accepted at least part of his testimony. When they announced Christopher and

Ramon's arrests, they said that they believed Savannah and Matthew had been killed as a part of a drug deal gone wrong. That doesn't mean that they agreed with Christopher's story about Matthew pulling a gun or the accidental misfires. It's not even clear if Savannah and Matthew were meeting up with Christopher to buy or sell weed, but it does seem possible that they were involved in a drug deal gone wrong somehow. This new piece of information was really upsetting to Savannah's brother Jordan Cordova. As he put it to San Antonio CBS News affiliate, my nephew Fabian, his mom and dad, they're all gone over marijuana? It's just, so senseless when you really take a step back and think about it,

not to mention that their brother was murdered over $60 worth of marijuana. It's horrible. But some of her relatives reacted differently. Instead of being saddened by the announcement, they just insisted that it couldn't be true. From their perspective, this was just one more false narrative. They said Savannah didn't use drugs. In fact, she was apparently super sensitive to secondhand smoke and couldn't stand to be around a person who was smoking. So how could she sell weed if she was so opposed to even being near it? On the other hand, Savannah might not have been quite the helpless, innocent bystander that her family described. According to the San Antonio police chief, she actively worked with Matthew selling drugs,

which does take all of her family's earlier statements and put them in an entirely different light. Now, I'm not in any way, shape, or form trying to victim blame here or imply that Savannah was at fault in her own murder. Clearly not, and not at all. And selling weed doesn't mean ever that you deserve to be killed. I think we can all agree on that. But it sounds like the Soto-Cordova family really saw Savannah as someone who got drawn in to the dark side by Matthew, when in reality, she had a lot of agency and made some of these less-than-upstanding decisions all on her own. For sure, and that doesn't at all diminish any of Matthew's culpability in the domestic abuse, but it does

suggest there was a lot more nuance in their relationship than what her family had reported. Maybe they weren't aware of everything that Savannah was up to, or maybe they only saw what they wanted to see. But people are complicated, and Savannah might just have wanted a different life than the ones that her parents thought that she should be living. Or maybe the police hadn't done adequate investigations and were making false assumptions about the circumstances of her death. After all, there seemed to be some other missteps and mistakes during their work. For example, on the evening of January 5th,

when they were taking questions about Ramon and Christopher's arrest, the investigator said that they weren't pursuing any additional suspects, that the father and the son were it, nobody else. Now this led to a lot of online criticism, because if you remember that video, that clip, it looked like somebody tossed a towel to Ramon from inside the truck. Christopher, of course, didn't throw it because he was driving the Kia. And Ramon didn't just chuck this towel at himself. That didn't make any sense.

It looked an awful lot like Ramon and Christopher had a third accomplice. And the investigators were basically announcing that they were not going to look into this final person. But once again, the public face of the department wasn't the whole picture here. Now, it's pretty common for police departments to keep some details of an active investigation confidential. A lot of the time, this is to help them sort out the real culprits from the innocent suspects or even from people giving these false confessions. The idea being that if there are certain details that only the police and the real murderer know, then they can sift through the people who actually have firsthand knowledge of the crime and those who have just been following it in the news. But that doesn't seem to be the case here because if there was a third killer,

that wouldn't be a detail that only the culprits knew. Anyone who watched that surveillance video and saw the towel would at least suspect that there was someone else in the truck's passenger seat. In fact, it sounds like this was just a case where the police didn't want to give up the game before they had all of the information in hand. There was a lot of information on social media that there was a third individual involved. Our homicide detectives were aware of that. However, we were looking for enough probable cause to make that arrest and to present the best case forward to the DA's office. Today, that happened. They were able to develop enough evidence to charge 47-year-old Mirta Romanos.

As for who the third culprit was, it was Ramon's girlfriend and Christopher's stepmother. Her name was Myrda Romanos. Investigators questioned Myrda on January 4th, 2024, the day after they arrested Christopher and Ramon. During her interrogation, Myrda claimed that she couldn't remember the night when her boyfriend and stepson were disposing of the bodies. Already pretty suspicious. her boyfriend and stepson were disposing of the bodies. Already pretty suspicious. She said that she thought that she might have been asleep at the time,

but again, she couldn't really recall. But then, police found yet more surveillance footage. I'm not sure if it was from a ring camera or something else, but it showed Myrta leaving the house with Ramon and getting into that Silverado. The time stamp put this departure shortly before the truck arrived at the parking lot. Then later that same night, they came home, this time with Christopher. So this is a pretty convenient thing to forget, to think you were asleep when you literally were in the car with them. And throwing towels.

I mean, come on. So like Ramon, it seems that Myrda had little to do with the actual murders itself. She just helped her stepson and her boyfriend dispose of Savannah and Matthew's bodies after the fact. But interestingly, the gun that killed them belonged to Myrda. It's not entirely clear, though, how it got into Christopher's hands. Now, police located the firearm in Myrda's bedroom at the same time they arrested Ramon and Christopher, a room that was locked, and Myrda was the only person who had a key. But I guess it still took them up to this point to definitively link Myrda to the murders.

Myrda was taken into custody on January 10th, and she was charged with altering, destroying, concealing a human corpse, the abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. She was just one more person who got all tangled up in this because of the bonds of family. And as of now, that's the last major break in this case, at least as of this recording. But it doesn't mean that Savannah and Matthew's stories are over or that we are done with new discoveries. It's still unclear exactly what went down that made a simple weed sale turn deadly. So far, police say that they haven't determined exactly where the murders happened either. Christopher, Ramon, and Myrta still have yet to go to trial, and I'm sure that

whenever they go to court, there will be a lot more coming to light, a lot new detail shared. So, of course, that probably won't be for a while so for now we'll just have to be satisfied with what we know already not hit the true crime streets trying to figure more things out and i know that that can be tough because the general public is very hungry for any updates about this case any updates they can get ramon and mirta's next door neighbor even netted millions of views on tikt TikTok just posting ring doorbell footage of police activity at their house. I mean, everybody is just itching for more information here. And meanwhile, Savannah and Matthew's families have done whatever they could to make their

peace with what happened. Savannah's funeral had to be pushed back a number of times due to weather and other family conflicts. Matthew had a memorial service on New Year's Day. His loved ones brought in the first moments of 2024 with a very somber countdown. Instead of champagne and a kiss at the stroke of midnight, people cried and were releasing balloons in his honor. Savannah's aunt and mother attended the event, but a lot of her relatives skipped Matthew's memorial, and honestly it's not hard to see why based on some of the statements that they gave to the press. It seems there were still hard feelings between her relatives and the Geras, even though the authorities had determined by this point that he didn't kill

Savannah. Of course, Matthew didn't have to pull the trigger for Savannah's loved ones to blame him though. Even if she made the choice of her own accord to sell weed and even if that decision led to her meeting with Christopher where she was then murdered, something nudged her onto that path to begin with. I don't know if Matthew was the sole factor or if Savannah was always just headed down that road herself independently, but I get that it's easy for her family to blame him. Maybe it's even a little bit comforting for them. It makes the terrible senseless tragedy maybe make a bit more sense if it's the result of some outside person's bad influence that's to blame. And I hate the way that so many people who were close to this case ultimately ended up suffering even beyond the grief and trauma of the murders.

Between the fighting and the blame casting, it's all just really, really sad. I agree. Throughout this episode, we've been talking about families. And the great thing about family is that they will stand by you no matter what. They will protect your reputation. They will warn you if you're about to make a bad decision. And in cases like Christopher, they might even help you try to get away with murder. But a family that loves you that much can also leave you very vulnerable too. All of these people now have holes in their hearts

where they used to hold their love for Savannah and Matthew and for one day little baby Fabian. And each time some new break makes it into the press, I have to imagine that that hole just tears wide open a little bit more it's really tragic anyways thank you guys so much for hearing savannah matthew and fabian's story today i appreciate it so much thank you peyton for joining me we have to do this more thank you so much for having me we literally are right by each other we need to be doing this let us know in the comments good call if you like this like this kind of style maybe you can like make it a typical thing for us to i really like that idea i'll put it as a poll on spotify too guys because it is

nice collabing rather than just like me looking at a camera like by myself all day it's nice to like have a conversation around thoughts that you've already written down totally what i mean absolutely absolutely so thank you so much for coming thank you for having me you're welcome all right guys don't forget to go check out everything Peyton's working on you probably are very very familiar with murder with my husband also her amazing podcast into the dark I will leave everything in the show notes with direct links go check it out you will love it as much as I do all right guys thank you and we will be back in a few days and again next week with another deep dive on a true crime case so talk to you later bye