National Roundup

Texas
Father and son are arrested in the killings of a pregnant woman and her boyfriend

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A father and son in Texas have been charged in the killings of an 18-year-old pregnant woman who disappeared before Christmas and her boyfriend, who authorities say were fatally shot in the head before their bodies were moved and discovered days later in a car.

The arrests Wednesday night came more than a week after the bodies of Savanah Nicole Soto, 18, and Matthew Guerra, 22, were found in the parking lot of a San Antonio apartment complex, a crime scene that the city’s police chief originally described as “very, very perplexing.”

San Antonio police Sgt. Washington Moscoso told reporters their deaths appeared to be the result of a drug deal but did not elaborate.

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.

Police said Christopher Preciado, 19, was charged with capital murder and his father, Ramon Preciado, 53, was charged with abuse of a corpse for allegedly helping his son move the couple’s bodies. 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.

As he was placed in a patrol car late Wednesday night, Ramon Preciado was asked by reporters whether he had remorse.

“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,” Preciado said.

His son did not comment as police escorted him to a separate vehicle.

Moscoso said prosecutors may pursue more charges against the men, whom he described as the only suspects in the killings. He said information on Savanah 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.

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.

Soto had been scheduled to have an induced labor at a hospital the weekend before Christmas, her family told KENS-TV. But her mother said she got no answer earlier when she knocked on the door of Soto’s apartment in the suburb of Leon Valley.

The family spent Christmas night searching the area and Leon Valley police issued a missing-person alert.

Kansas
Prosecutors drop three felony charges against the brother of Patrick Mahomes
Prosecutors in Kansas on Wednesday dismissed three felony charges related to accusations that Jackson Mahomes — the younger brother of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — grabbed a woman by the neck and kissed her against her will.

Johnson County Assistant District Attorney Megan Ahsens had filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss three counts of aggravated sexual battery. Jackson Mahomes appeared at a hearing Wednesday and the felony charges were dropped. A fourth charge — misdemeanor battery — remains, and Jackson Mahomes pleaded not guilty to that charge.

The court filing cited a lack of cooperation from the alleged victim.

Jackson Mahomes’ attorney, Brandan Davies, said in a statement that his client “has done nothing wrong. We had full confidence that the truth of the matter would ultimately be revealed.”

The original charges accused Jackson Mahomes, a 23-year-old social media influencer, of crimes that occurred Feb. 25 at Aspens Restaurant and Lounge in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.

Investigators said Mahomes shoved a waiter who tried to come into a room where he was with the restaurant’s owner, Aspen Vaughn. After the waiter left, Mahomes grabbed Vaughn by the throat and forcefully kissed her three different times without her consent, prosecutors alleged.

Vaughn told police Mahomes was a friend of her stepdaughter, and had caused trouble and been asked to leave the restaurant in the past.

Vaughn closed the restaurant in August, saying her business suffered from the publicity associated with the case. She told the Kansas City Star at the time that she endured death threats and harassment and the restaurant was vandalized in the aftermath of the charges.

Tuesday’s court filing said prosecutors were presented with an affidavit from Vaughn’s attorneys stating that she would refuse to testify. The filing said prosecutors still planned to move ahead with the case, noting that surveillance video captured the encounter.

But the filing also said subpoenas meant for Vaughn, who was referred to in court documents by her initials, were not delivered.

“Indeed, it has become clear to the State, through conversations with more than one person in contact with her, that A.R. is actively thwarting attempts to serve her to avoid coming to court,” Ahsens wrote.
The misdemeanor battery charge remains because that charge involved the alleged shoving of the waiter.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined comment.