Man arrested and charged in murder of ex-wife whose body is still missing

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Sheryl Blakes expected her daughter, Keysha Preston, to walk over to the family home in northeast Houston for supper on Thanksgiving Day. But, she never came.

Now, Keysha's ex-husband, Sean Preston, is charged with murder.

"She would have been here for Thanksgiving," said Blakes, who has watched her daughter and son-in-law's troubled marriage for two decades. "(Should have come) even the day after because her auntie had cooked. She'd been here, she'd been here."

What Blakes didn't know at the time, was that her daughter was likely already dead by Thanksgiving.

Keysha's son reported her missing right before Thanksgiving.

"She wasn't calling him back, and that wasn't normal," said prosecutor Janna Oswald, who first became aware of the Prestons in a child abuse case.

Sean, 47, is accused of killing Keysha at a motel at 3618 Laura Koppe Road sometime between Nov. 24 and Nov. 25. The motel is just a few miles from Blakes' home, but she had no idea that's where her daughter was last seen alive.

Investigators said surveillance video shows Sean and Keysha walking into room 120 of the motel on Nov. 24, but Keysha never came out.

"(Keysha) never exited," said Oswald. "We see (Sean) go in numerous times with duffle bags and other ways to carry things. He does carry things, things that looked heavy, and (Keysha) was never seen."

Prosecutors said the following day, cleaning staff who went into the room reported a strong bleach smell, which was unusual.

To this day, Keysha's body has still not been found, but prosecutors said they have enough evidence to charge Sean with murder.

In addition, he is also charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child relative. In that case, prosecutors said a witness reported Sean sexually assaulting a young child in his home. Investigators began looking into that case in 2020 and charged him in the case just one day before the murder charge was filed.

Both cases are being handled by the same prosecutor, but investigators are uncertain if one is specifically related to the other.

Sean is currently being held on a more than $2 million bond. Detectives said the investigation is far from over and will continue to look for Keysha's remains.

"I'm not going to kill him," said a clearly angry Blakes. "He will see Satan he will suffer."

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