(Balcony death/murder) Man testifies about female co-worker's death at hotel
Patty
By Karen Rubin , Staff Writer
Pasadena Star News
Oct. 31, 2002
A Houston executive accused of killing a female co-worker testified
Wednesday the woman accidentally fell 100 feet, and it happened so
fast it was impossible to save her.
Sandra Orellana hoisted herself onto a narrow balcony railing at the
Industry Hills Sheraton and fell backward to her death, he said.
Robert Lee Salazar's testimony on the sixth day of trial in Pomona
Superior court was the first full accounting of what happened Nov. 13,
1996, between murder defendant Salazar, 39, and Orellana, who was 27
when she died.
The married father of two testified in his defense that hours before
Orellana, his subordinate, died, she had celebrated her 27th birthday.
The rest of the evening was followed by more drinking and dancing.
Orellana and Salazar were in Los Angeles on business for a Texas
company. After the woman's death, Salazar was arrested on suspicion of
murder but prosecutors declined to file charges because of
insufficient evidence. Five years later, sheriff's detectives arrested
him after prosecutors reopened the case and decided there was enough
evidence to try Salazar.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Salazar calmly told the jury, pausing when
he spoke of intimate sexual details, how a mutual attraction grew
during a slow dance in the hotel bar. Orellana held him close and
Salazar responded, he said. The attraction continued over cocktails
and conversation that lasted more than two hours.
When they left the lounge, their passion continued in a room on the
eighth floor. Orellana held his hand and pulled Salazar into her room,
where the two promptly fell onto the bed, bumping heads as they hit
the mattress, he said. Orellana removed her pants and panties and was
nude except for a camisole, Salazar said.
The two hugged, kissed and fondled each other. Then they walked to the
balcony, he said.
"I was hugging her and kissing her," Salazar said, dropping his head.
"We were about to have sex. Sandra said, 'Hold on," turned around (to
face Salazar) and hoisted her (bottom) on the railing and fell
backward. It was one motion.
happened so fast."
Defense Attorney Michael R. Coghlan then had Salazar demonstrate how
she fell.
"I didn't know what she was doing," Salazar said. "There was no
screaming. I was in disbelief. I panicked, got my clothes and left. I
went back to my room and prayed."
Salazar admitted he did not call police because he was so drunk that
he thought the authorities would not believe him.
He also said he was scared.
"I made a big mistake, one that I will have to live with for the rest
of my life," he said. "I did something that I should not have done. I
was with another woman, an employee."
During cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Robert Foltz
accused Salazar of plying Orellana with drinks so he could get her
into bed.
But Salazar denied the allegation. Orellana was ordering drinks on her
own, he said. The prosecutor also brought up that when Orellana died,
Salazar and his wife, Beth, had been married only 16 months and, at
that time, the couple had an 8-month-old girl.
In October 1996, Foltz said, Salazar received a vice-presidency
promotion at his Houston-based staffing firm.
"You basically controlled the destiny of of every employee," Foltz
said. "You had the power to fire. You did not go around sleeping with
subordinates, did you?"
Salazar said he knew he would be fired if Orellana or anyone spoke
about his sexual encounter with his employer.
But the executive also said Orellana was in a relationship and also
could have been terminated if company officials found out.
Salazar appeared remorseful and said the young woman's death had
"ruined his life."
"I knew I made a terrible decision not to call 9-1-1," he said. "I
knew I made a terrible mistake. I felt ashamed ... I was ashamed I had
been in her room."
Also on Wednesday, a criminologist testified the blood found on a
hotel sheet, Salazar's T-shirt and Orellana's panties was menstrual
blood.
Today, the prosecution is expec ted to continue its cross- examination
of Salazar and the defense is expected to rest.
PattyC
guy? I think I do. Her getting up on the railing to continue the sexual
encounter would be *just* what a couple drunk people might do. I've
heard...
PattyC
--
???
"Patty" <eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f0e77308.02103...@posting.google.com...
crosem
can't see how they could convict him...
"PattyC" <patty...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:rYkw9.30077$I_5.29131@rwcrnsc53...
Patty
"PattyC" <patty...@attbi.com> wrote in message news:rYkw9.30077$I_5.29131@rwcrnsc53...
: Now THIS is interesting true crime stuff. Hey Patty, do you believe this guy? I think
I do. Her getting up on the railing to continue the sexual encounter would be *just* what
a couple drunk people might do. I've
: heard...
:
: PattyC
: --
: ???
I don't think he killed her either, but I would like to see that balcony. In other
reports they said it would be very difficult for her to hoist herself up that high, 44
inches, as she was about 5'2". I wonder if he helped her up and then she fell, and it was
just an accident. Her blood alcohol was .22, easy to lose your balance. Some articles
say she fell 50 feet to her death, others 100 feet. Also I'm sure her family sued the
hotel, wonder if there was a settlement, maybe out of court. (Thinking about the Ford
lawsuit withdrawn from the Cape May dentist, BTW there is now a book out on it by Lawrence
Schiller, and getting good reviews too.)
Here's a picture of a room at the hotel, now called Pacific Palms Resort. The railing
seems very thin to even try to attempt to sit on it. I think her room was 813, so it must
have been the 8th floor.
http://www.usa.travelmall.com/travelmall/hotel_pics2/Pacific+Palms+Resort+Conference+Resor
t?imgtoload=2
Here's an earlier report with lots more detail:
pictures
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/1733629/detail.html
Criminologist Testifies No Sign Of Struggle In Balcony Death Trial
Suspect Charged With Murder
NBC Channel 4 Los Angeles
UPDATED: 11:55 a.m. PDT October 22, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- A criminologist has testified there was no sign of a struggle inside the
hotel room where a married Texas businessman allegedly met a co-worker for a sexual tryst
moments before she plunged to her death from a hotel balcony.
Robert Salazar, 39, of Baytown, Texas, is on trial for murdering Sandra Orellana, 27, of
Houston, while on a Southern California business trip in 1996.
Inside the hotel room at the Industry Hills Sheraton was a pair of high heels hurriedly
kicked off, a purse dropped on the floor, pink panties tossed next to the bed and a bra
stuffed in a jacket pocket, Sheriff's department criminologist Heidi Robbins testified
Monday.
"(The evidence) was consistent with a woman who entered a room and took her clothing off
herself," Robbins said. "It looked hurriedly removed. ... The shoes were kicked off, the
panties were rolled up inside each other. Nothing in the room was broken. I did not read
anything other than something consensual."
Some of Robbins' testimony seemed to bolster the defense's claim that Orellana and Salazar
engaged in consensual sex that ended in a tragic accident. "There was some sexual
activity, not a completed act of intercourse," Robbins said.
The trial -- in its second day at Pomona Superior Court -- involves the Nov. 13, 1996,
death of Orellana, a Houston claims adjuster, who fell to her death while with Salazar,
her boss.
Salazar is charged with one felony count of murder. Salazar was arrested five years after
the crime when prosecutors felt there was enough evidence to file criminal charges.
Prosecutors believe Salazar attacked and threw Orellana over the balcony. Salazar said she
accidentally fell while the two were having sex. Both sides agree the two were having sex
and heavily intoxicated.
In other testimony, retired Sgt. Craig Melvin said the 44-inch-high railing which Orellana
fell from had a thin layer of dust on it, except for in the middle. A mark from the
natural oil from the skin, possibly Orellana's bare foot, was taken from the bottom
railing, he said.
No markings were found on the rail indicating Orellana sat on the rail before she fell,
Melvin said. This could refute the defense's argument that Orellana sat on the railing
before tumbling over it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Different pictures on the pair (more current one of him)
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/103002_nw_balcony_death_trial.html
:
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PattyC
"In other testimony, retired Sgt. Craig Melvin said the 44-inch-high railing
which Orellana fell from had a thin layer of dust on it, except for in the
middle. A mark from the natural oil from the skin, possibly Orellana's bare
foot, was taken from the bottom railing, he said."
So, she boosts herself up onto the railing by putting her foot on the bottom
railing... then...oops. Stories like this make a person cringe. One, can
you believe he left the scene when she died? Yikes, at that point he was
probably thinking (drunkenly) that he didn't want people to know he was
"with" her (as IF that were about to be his biggest problem!).
Two, think about what an awful way this would be to die. I know the actual
death was awful, but I mean more so, imagine that all kinds of people know
you were running drunk into a hotel room with a married man, ripping off
your clothes, oh geez. Talk about the ultimate embarrassment. The only
good part is she's not here to face her mother!
After reading this second article, I am wondering why the prosecution even
charged this guy.
PattyC
--
???
"Patty" <la...@bug.com> wrote in message news:3dc2...@post.newsfeed.com...
Patty
> "In other testimony, retired Sgt. Craig Melvin said the 44-inch-high railing
> which Orellana fell from had a thin layer of dust on it, except for in the
> middle. A mark from the natural oil from the skin, possibly Orellana's bare
> foot, was taken from the bottom railing, he said."
>
> So, she boosts herself up onto the railing by putting her foot on the bottom
> railing... then...oops. Stories like this make a person cringe. One, can
> you believe he left the scene when she died? Yikes, at that point he was
> probably thinking (drunkenly) that he didn't want people to know he was
> "with" her (as IF that were about to be his biggest problem!).
>
> Two, think about what an awful way this would be to die. I know the actual
> death was awful, but I mean more so, imagine that all kinds of people know
> you were running drunk into a hotel room with a married man, ripping off
> your clothes, oh geez. Talk about the ultimate embarrassment. The only
> good part is she's not here to face her mother!
>
They charged him after they found her blood on his shirt and on a
sheet in his hotel room last year. Then they drop the bombshell in
court that it's menstrual blood, so it's not even evidence that an
attack had even happened.
What luck for the poor girl, and even the boss. This is a nightmare.
He's been out on $500,000 bail since last year, but I bet he's paying
some good money for his attorney. The state's wasting time and money
on this case.
Her dad is a doctor in Texas, maybe her family pushed for it. I don't
know about a lawsuit, but the hotel would be in a better position if
it was murder. I still can't imagine sitting on that little banister,
at first I thought it would be wide, maybe made of stucco.
Patty
