Mystery In Room 813

Robert Salazar is a married man and a Father on a business trip with his young business associate Sandra Orellana. The trip ended in tragedy on the 8th floor balcony of her hotel room. Sandra's boss, Robert Salazar, swears it was an accident but Sandra's family says she was afraid of her boss and afraid of the trip as well. They also say he made uninvited advances toward her. The police are out to prove that the fall was no accident but rather murder. This case has all the makings of a classic He Said/ She Said except that she isn't here to speak for herself.

From the day she fell off that balcony and died police have had their suspicions about what happened to her but it has taken years to build a case and take it to trial. There is clearly a case for bad judgement but is there a case for murder? It happened in the middle of the night in November 1996 at a Sheraton Hotel just east of Los Angeles. A woman went over a balcony and met her death. If she screamed no one heard her. If it was murder there were no witnesses. If it were an accident or suicide the circumstances sure seemed strange.

The investigation was to be Ray Rodreguez's last case in a career that spanned some 33 years. It was just after 8:00 AM the morning of November 13th 1996. The woman lay in a pool of blood 104 feet down from her balcony of the hotel room. That morning another guest saw the body from his balcony and called police. Ray Rodreguez says there was a tremendous amount of trauma to the victim. She was naked except for a little camisole top that was on the body. And so the investigation began.

Rodreguez located the room and identified the victim as 27 year old Sandra Orellana from Houston Texas. And then he called for backup, secures the scene and the Robert Salazar comes out of his room. Robert Lee Salazar is 33 also from Houston a married man with two children. Salazar told police that Sandra told police that Sandra worked for him. In fact they were traveling together. After the Detective tells Salazar Sandra is dead Salazar collapses in the hallway. Salazar tells the detective that he did more than just travel with Sandra on this trip.

He said they had been out the night before and they had been drinking.. a lot. He says that when they came home around midnight he let her in the room and then he left and that's it. But that is only the first version of the story. But the police were suspicious. What Salazar didn't know was that the police had found a pair of men's underwear in Sandra's bed. So they ask Robert again if he is sure that none of his belongings are in the room and he says yes. Now Detective Rodreguez is becoming sure this is more than a suicide or accident. This is exactly why no one should ever talk to police. Everyone seems to think they can talk their way out of anything when they are in fact simply digging a hole for themselves. Talking to the police is what lawyers are for.

Rodreguez then went back to Sandra's room looking for more clues. He finds a man's shoe at the foot of the bed wrapped up in the bedding. Then he moved next door to Salazar's room. There he finds a pair of black underwear the same style and size as the pair found in Sandra's room. He also finds the mate to the shoe that he found in Sandra's room. So now it is time to go back to talk to Robert. This is how the interrogation goes:
Rodreguez: Did you have sex with her?
Salazar: Yes I did but i am married and that's why I didn't want to tell you before.
Rodreguez: How did she come to be where she ended up?
Salazar: I don't know.
Rodreguez: I want to know the whole truth about what happened. You know if you had rough sex and you strangled her or whatever I want to know.
Salazar: No, I swear to God no, I swear to God no.
Rodreguez: What really happened Robert?
Salazar: We were making out.
Rodreguez: On the balcony?
Salazar: Yeah
Rodreguez: I was rubbing on her and she was rubbing on me and she bent around and I was over that way and then all of a sudden she grabbed the balcony and pushed herself up to turn over and when she did that she just went over.

Rodreguez now believes Salazar made sexual advances on Sandra after she passed out on the bed and woke up as she was startled by it. He thinks she fought with him and clawed at him, leaving a mark on his face. He thinks that Salazar hit her and knocked her out. He then took Sandra out on the balcony and threw her over. Salazar never called anyone that morning to tell them that Sandra had went over the balcony and ended up 104 feet below, a fall no one could have survived. He did however make two calls to Sandra's room that morning telling her to get up as they were going to be late for their appointments that day, that according to Rodreguez make him look even more guilty. Ain't homicide cops just the nicest folks?

The importance of these calls should not be over looked, however. He was calling a woman he knew was already dead. Ray Rodreguez arrested Salazar and took him to jail. An open and shut case. Well not exactly. It would take six years and many twists and turns before the case ever went to trial. Sandra Orellana's death is more than just a tragedy for her sister Catherine. Her Mother, her Father and Her Aunt Olga also grieve. For Sandra's family her death while on a business trip with her boss Robert Salazar simply made no sense. Sandra Orellana was young and single, a college graduate who was starting her career in what she thought was a dynamic and growing company. She was a funny, wonderful girl who had a lot of friends and loved her family. She was somebody you wanted to hang out with.

She had a boyfriend who was working and living in Hong Kong. They were considering a future together. She visited him often. Sandra was four years older than her sister Catherine. Because they were so close Sandra's death hit hard. Catherine said she was angry because Sandra was complaining about Salazar's unwanted sexual advances. After Sandra had no doubt it was murder and Robert Salazar was the one who killed her. Catherine believes Salazar tried to rape her sister and things got out of hand. Her theory of the crime is about the same as Detective Rodreguez'. Sandra's Aunt Olga, a few years older and very close, said that Salazar often made suggestive comments to her at work. Olga says Sandra was trying to move on trying to get away from Salazar. Catherine agrees that Sandra felt as if she were being harassed.

So when the arrangements were made for the trip to California were made she said Sandra told her that she was upset that Salazar was going and it was just an excuse for Salazar to get her alone. Because of that story, Catherine reacted strongly when she heard Salazar's story that night. Catherine says she gave Detective Rodreguez all of this information. He says that after hearing Catherine he had no doubt that Salazar had murdered Sandra. Catherine was even more shocked when she learned that just two days after being taken into custody Salazar was released.

Robert Salazar says he lied because he didn't want his wife to know, didn't want to lose his job, and didn't want to be blamed for a murder he didn't commit. (You see if he hadn't have talked to the police in the first place they wouldn't have have caught him in that lie to use against him, regardless of his noble intentions.) So Salazar went home but he wasn't home free. However at that time the Los Angeles DA said there wasn't enough evidence to convict Salazar at that time. For Detective Rodreguez that was just a reason to work harder. Then just two months later, the Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Sandra's death was a homicide. Sandra's family couldn't understand why Salazar wasn't either in jail or at least on trial. But there was politics involved. The DA had just lost one high profile trial with the OJ Simpson debacle and didn't want to lose another.

But Detective Rodreguez wasn't going to let Salazar get away with anything. In the weeks and months after his release he was gathering bits of his suspect as evidence. He flew to Houston to get Salazar's DNA. And then to understand the physics of the fall the police made a fire hose dummy and in a highly publicized experiment, dropped the dummy a number of times from the same balcony. They also hired Hollywood stuntmen and bio mechanical engineers. Their conclusion was that some force had to be applied to Sandra over the railing to allow her body to land where it did. Sandra's body was found directly below the left side of the balcony. You would think that would give the cops a clue but no still they persist. The lack of fingerprints on the dusty rail was just more proof of Salazar's guilt for Detective Rodreguiz.

But even with the mounting evidence, months than years passed without an indictment. Still Detective Rodreguez couldn't or wouldn't drop the case. And Sandra's family wouldn't drop the case either. They filed a wrongful death suit against Salazar thing that if he were found guilty in a civil suit maybe the authorities would take notice of it and file an indictment. The civil case was dropped after a dramatic development in Los Angeles. The DA was voted out of office and the new DA gave the go ahead for an indictment. So four an a half year after his release Salazar's nightmare came back. The first thought in Salazar's mind was that he was going to get blamed for something he didn't do.

During that four and a half years Robert Salazar has lost his job but has salvaged his marriage. And over time he even rebuilt his career. He admits reluctantly a night of indiscretion but has always maintained that he had nothing to do with Sandra's fall. So he was caught totally off guard when police showed up at his house to arrest him for murder. Detective Rodreguez believes Salazar has been lying right from the beginning. So again, what good does it do to talk to the cops. Even if you tell them the truth, if it is not what they want to hear they will accuse you of lying and continue to do so until you tell them what they want to hear.

He admits to doing some things wrong but only with the interest of his marriage and his job. Then he was general Manager of Skillmaster, a personnel agency in booming Houston, Texas with some 30 employees working for him, Sandra among them. Her job was to handle all the workman's compensation claims. He says their relationship was strictly an employee/boss relationship much the same as he had with all the people who worked for him, and denies the accusation that he harassed Sandra. But on November 12th 1996 he and Sandra were on the road together. His company was purchasing a company in California and they were there clean up their workman's compensation situation that the new company had somehow manage to get all screwed up before the purchase could be completed.

That evening started out with a business dinner but it also happened to be Sandra's 27th birthday. By Salazar's count they had four drinks over dinner and some champagne when they checked in. He describes their condition by the time they got to the hotel as "feeling no pain" and shouldn't be driving. They weren't. A business colleague drove them to and from dinner and dropped them off at their Hotel. He says he walked in and they could hear the band playing and Sandra said why don't we go down and take a look at it. This another one of those mistakes he says he made that night. He said after a few more drinks things started to get complicated.

He says he and Sandra started hugging and laughing and having a good time and hormones being what they are, well one thing sort of led to another. William Boone was also a guest in the hotel that night and he says he saw them together twice. He says both times they looked happy while embracing each other. But they didn't stop there. Next they walked to their rooms which were right next to each other. He says they wound up in her room because she was the sexual aggressor that night. After making love they are both hot so they go out to the balcony. He says the time was just after midnight. He says she says hold on as he is behind her at this point and she lifts her leg and turns around to sit on the railing and lifts herself and when she does she loses her balance and falls off. He says he saw her fall off but did not see her hit the ground but did hear her hit the ground.

Sandra Orellona had fallen 104 feet to her death. Afterwards his first thought was to get out of there for fear he would be blamed for a tragic accident. He says he didn't call anyone because he was drunk and doubted anyone would believe him. Further if he calls his wife is going to find out and his work is going to find out and to him it just wasn't worth the risk. Detective Rodreguiz thinks that not making that phone call proves his guilt, and he was lying from the beginning and is still lying. So who is right? A Jury will now decide.

Nearly six years after Sandra Orellona plunged off the balcony Salazar finally gets his day in court. For Ray Rodreguiz this was their last and best hope for Justice. If convicted Robert faced a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. But was there enough evidence there to convince a Jury? Remember he is the only one left to tell the tale of what happened and there were no other witnesses. Even the prosecutor has his doubts but he also believes the lies that Salazar told holds a significant truth.. That Salazar murdered Sandra.

The prosecution's theory of the case is that it was all well planned. That first he got her drunk and then got her in the room and tried to force sex on her at which time she scratched him. He then got angry and retaliated by somehow rendering her unconscious and then just simply threw her off the balcony. Defense attorney Mike Coglet said both Robert Salazar were drunk that night and Sandra had a .22 blood alcohol level and simply fell as she was trying to sit on the rail. For the prosecution the main witnesses were the Investigators. Detective Rodreguez came out of retirement to testify. Rodreguez told the Jury about how he found the underwear and shoes in her room. The Jury was played the taped statement in which Salazar can be heard to say "she grabbed the balcony and pushed herself up and when she did that she just went over". Then he told the Jury how the day ended when he arrested Salazar.

The county coroner testified that there were a large number of fractured ribs on both sides of her body. The other experts that the prosecution painted the picture of a violent crime. The defense said the fall was an accident that Sandra wasn't fighting Salazar at all. William Boone the businessman told his story of how happy the couple seemed the two times he saw them that night. And Heidi Robbins the criminologist seemed to make the defense case under cross examination. When she was asked by defense counsel if she examined the bedsheets that night she said yes. He then asked if any of them were torn or damaged in any way she said no. He next asked if she examined the clothes Sandra was wearing that night and she said yes. He asked her if there was any indication that any of her clothes were removed without her consent, to which she replied no.

Using sophisticated computer graphics Dr. Carly Ward testified that because Sandra's body was so close to the hotel she couldn't have been pushed or forced off the balcony. But undoubtedly the star witness was the defendant himself. He explained exactly how Sandra fell through a demonstration. He answered questions sometimes emotionally sometimes not. Observers in the courtroom were somewhat taken aback by how easily he was able to shift emotional gears. And when the court played those phone calls the next morning after he knew she was dead, Salazar didn't seem to have a very good explanation. He simply said he made a bad decision that he will have to live with the rest of his life and that it wasn't a good answer but it was the truth. The prosecutor challenged Salazar at every turn saying "you wish she was alive now because you murdered her" to which Salazar responds "I swear I didn't murder, I swear I didn't" and then the prosecutor says "and you do not want to pay for that act" to which Salazar responds "as God is my witness I did not murder her".

The closing arguments from both sides were very direct. The prosecutor said Salazar was a murderer and the defense said it was a tragic accident. Of course the family of Sandra Orellona wants him to be found guilty. It took the Jury nine hours to reach a verdict. The result was not guilty. For Robert Salazar there was relief mixed with grief for Sandra and her family. One of the Jurors said later that while they didn't believe all of Salazar's testimony they do believe it was a tragic accident. The Orellona was left with nothing but pain. They still think that he did it as does Detective Rodreguez. The Jurors believe that despite the verdict they still believe he is lying about what happened that night. We will probably never know. Which is what makes this case a mystery.. The mystery in Room 813.