Mystery in Room 813

0:05It happened in the middle of the night in November 1996.

0:12At 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 was an accident or suicide, the circumstances sure seem strange. When I first got on the scene, I knew that this was going to be a complex case. The young woman's death would be homicide detective Ray Rodriguez's last case in a long 33-year career. It was just after 8 a.m., the morning of November 13, 1996. A call came into the desk there that there was an apparent suicide at the Industry Hill Sheraton. A woman had jumped from a hotel room balcony and that she was deceased.

1:06The woman lay in a pool of blood 104 feet down from the balcony of her hotel room. That morning, another guest at the hotel saw the body from his balcony and called police. I don't mean to get in detail, but how did it appear to you? What did it look like had happened? The body appeared like a lot of trauma. There was a lot of trauma. The only thing that I've ever seen close to that is like when someone has been hit by a train. The body was naked except for a little camisole top that was on the body. That was kind of concerning to me right then and there at the initial time that I first saw the body.

1:48Why? It's only been like once or twice that I've ever encountered a naked suicide. And so the investigation began. Officers located the room, identified the victim as 27-year-old Sandra Oriana, a single woman from Houston, Texas. And then the officers waited for backup. Deputy Gonzalez comes outside the room and closes the door to secure it until homicide detectives can arrive so nobody will disturb anything. Once that happens, he's outside, and then 815's door opens, and out comes Robert. Robert Lee Salazar was 33 years old, an executive also from Houston, a married man with two children. Salazar comes out the door.

2:32The investigator says, do you know this woman in the room? Does he react to it in any way? Yes, yes. Salazar told police that Sandra Oriana worked for him. In fact, they were traveling together. The officer tells me he's been investigating an accident. He doesn't tell him that Sandra's dead. And what does Salazar do? That's when he collapses and starts crying and collapses in the hallway. Robert Salazar told the deputy he did more than just work with Sandra Oriana on this business trip. He said they'd been out the night before to dinner and they had been drinking a lot. Then he tells Gonzalez that she was very, very drunk and that when they got up to the room around midnight, He let her in the room, put her in the room, closed the door, and then he left.

3:20And that was it. And that was the last he seen it. But as it turns out, that's the first version of his story. Correct. The first story that comes from Robert. But the police were suspicious. He doesn't know that the investigators have found a pair of man's underwear in that room. Correct. He hasn't been told anything of what they saw or what they find. And now it's your turn to talk to him. Correct. And when you begin to question him, what does he say? I asked him, you know, hey, Robert, you know, sure none of your items are in the room? No, no personal items are in the room. Now I'm thinking the story that he gave Deputy Gonzalez was a bunch of bull.

3:58Now Detective Rodriguez was rapidly becoming convinced this wasn't a suicide. That time I started focusing on this as a murder. He went back to Sandra's room looking for more clues. So we ended up finding a shoe, a male shoe. is wrapped up in the bedding at the foot of the bed. So I know now that I have a men's underwear, and I know that I have a men's shoe, left shoe. Then he moved next door to Salazar's room. I find a men's black underwear, the same size, the same brand, the same style as the white underwear that's in the other room, and there's one right black shoe. The physical evidence shows he was in the room with her.

4:40Correct. So now it's time to go back to talk to Robert. The recorder was on the bed like this, and I was talking to Robert like this. On the audio tape of the meeting, Salazar began to change his story. You want to tell us what happened, Robert? Because it doesn't match up. Did you have sex with her? Yes, I did. And I'm married, and that's why I didn't want to say it. I swear, that was it. How did she come about being where she ended up? I don't know. I don't know. So in the second version, he still doesn't see her fall. Correct. He leaves her behind in the room, and what happens after that, he doesn't know.

5:17Now we continue to press him even more. I want to know the whole truth about what happened. You know, if you had sex with her, if it was rough sex, if something happened, if you strangled her, or any of these things. Swear to God, no. Swear to God, no. At this point, because he's changed his story once, do you suspect that he killed her or do you still not know? No, I'm now leaning that this guy's hiding something and something else happened on that balcony. And this woman went over not wanting to go over. Does he then change his story again? Then we're going to get the true story, supposedly.

5:59What really happened, Robert? You were making out. On the balcony? Yeah. because we're making out on the balcony. We're rubbing on her, she was rubbing on me. She turned around to bend over the balcony, and I was 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. Let's go inside. You've been in this room many times. Yeah, quite a few times. It's completely different now than it was on that night. Based on your investigation, what do you believe happened in this room that night? I believe that Robert Salazar made sexual advances onto Sandra.

6:49I think that she was on the bed and then that she pretty much passed out on the bed. I think that he started to make sexual advance on her. And I think that she woke up. She was startled by it. And I think that she fought him. That mark on his face, you believe, is a result of her struggling with him? I think she clawed at him and got him. The first policeman to talk to Salazar that morning noticed this mark on his face. After she hit him or gouged him with a fingernail, you think he hit her back? Yes, I do. And knocked her out? I think that's it. I think that finally Salazar, I don't know if I can't account for his reasonings, but that was the option that was elected.

7:31Out on the balcony? down the balcony and over the balcony. Salazar never called anyone to report that Sandra Oriana had gone off that balcony up there and landed here, 104 feet below, a fall no one could have survived. He did, however, make two other phone calls, two chilling phone calls that, according to Detective Rodriguez, made him look even more guilty. Come on, Sandy, we're waiting on you. Come on, we gotta go. Let's go. Hurry up. It's after seven. Bye-bye. Before the police arrived, Robert Salazar twice called Sandra's room, leaving messages on the hotel voicemail to a woman he knew was dead.

8:13Hello. Wake up. We got to go. Come on. But when I hear those two tapes, how does anybody call a dead woman and tells her to wake up? And not once. Twice. Ray Rodriguez arrested Robert Salazar and took him to jail. open and shut case. Well, not exactly. It would take six years and many twists and turns before the sex on the balcony case would finally get to trial.

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9:55It's comforting to be out here, but it's hard for me to be out here. I don't like to see it. I'd always just talk about what's going on in my life. Catherine! And I guess just stressing how much she's missed and how much nothing's the same without her here. Sandra Oriana's untimely death is more than just a tragedy for her sister Catherine. I don't like to see the tombstone. I don't like to see her name. It's just too much. Her mother, her father, and her Aunt Olga also grieve. We love her. We miss her a lot. And every time we come and see her, it's so painful for the first time. I miss her very much.

10:39It's hard. Very hard. For this close-knit family, the circumstances that led to Sandra's death while on a business trip with her boss Robert Salazar simply made no sense. When I had heard that she had fallen off the balcony and then they were questioning him, I felt like he was responsible for something, something had happened. Sandra, can you look here? Sandra Oriana was young and single, a college graduate who had begun a career at what she thought was a dynamic and growing company. She was just a woman who was full of life. Me giving you a kiss, you giving me a kiss. She was funny. Gross! Okay, close up and Sandy.

11:21Had a lot of friends, loved her family. Cheese! Play for my cheese! And just somebody you wanted to hang out with. She had a boyfriend who was working and living in Hong Kong. I like to feel that she's with me. I like to feel that she's around somehow. They were considering a future together. She was going to Hong Kong to talk about getting married? She was going to Hong Kong, right, to visit him, to basically just go there, maybe stay and live. Sandra was four years older than her sister Catherine. She was my high - I mean, a lot of people said we looked alike. Sandy. A lot of people would look at me and see Sandy.

12:04Because they were so close, Sandra's death hit hard. I was upset. I was mad. I was angry. I couldn't believe you would do that. Catherine says she was especially upset because her sister had been complaining about Robert Salazar's unwanted sexual advances. After Sandra's death, Catherine had no doubt it was murder and that Robert Salazar was the one who killed her. I was scared. I was sad for my sister. I was trying to put myself in her position. Just the fear that she must have felt in her room alone and him coming on to her and him trying to rape her. I mean, I think I keep thinking about that and how she must have been so scared.

12:45She worked in that one there, right by where the light is at. Sandra's Aunt Olga, just a few years older and also very close, said Sandra told her that Salazar often made suggestive comments to her at work. He mentioned, you know, about the way she was dressed sometimes, you know, you have nice legs or, you know, you look nice. But the way he looked at her, that was what made her feel uncomfortable. Olga says Sandra was ready to move on, trying to get away from Robert Salazar. She was tired of this man and all the things that went around. And she was going to look for another job. Catherine agrees.

13:23She told me on several occasions he'd made passes at her. In your sister's mind this was harassment? Yeah, she did feel it was harassment. She, well, he made a pass at her. He grabbed her once at work. Grabbed her how? He grabbed her ass, he grabbed her back. So when the arrangements for the trip to California were made, they say Sandra wasn't happy. What did she say to you when she found out that Salazar was coming on this trip too? She was upset that he was going. She felt that it was just another instance when he's trying to make a situation happen, or looking for an opportunity to be alone with her.

14:06Because of that history, Catherine Oriana reacted strongly when she heard Robert Salazar's version of events that night. I didn't believe his story. He was already saying that they were having sex on a balcony. From that minute, I knew it was wrong. I knew he was lying. Let me put it bluntly here. Is she the kind of woman who would have sex with somebody hanging off a balcony of a hotel? No. No. She was afraid of heights. She didn't even like balconies. And it's just, it's ridiculous to think that she would, you know, his story is that she would got up to go open up the window and grab some air in the nude or something.

14:41And it's just, that's not her. That's out of character. She would never have done that. Did you tell the police detectives what your sister had told you about Salazar? Yes, I did. Catherine told Detective Ray Rodriguez. I've worked homicide for nine years. I've seen a lot of victims' family endure, and just like all those other victims, the Oriana family has endured a lot. Rodriguez says talking to Sandra's family reinforced his doubts about Salazar's story. From what I've learned about Sandra Oriana during this investigation, I don't believe that she would ever have been in a position of being out on a balcony stripped down to a little camisole.

15:28It's important for us to clear my sister's name and that she would never have participated in something like that. But instead of clearing her name, Sandra's family was shocked when just two days after he was taken into custody, Salazar was released and no charges were filed. I lied because I didn't want my wife to know. I didn't want to lose my job and I didn't want to be blamed for murder. Robert Salazar went home, but he wasn't home free.

16:11To me, there's so many things pointing to guilt. Sandra Oriana had died falling off this balcony.

16:24And Robert Salazar had been arrested the next afternoon. But the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute Robert Salazar for murder, and so he was let go. You know, I knew that it was going to be a long road. For Detective Ray Rodriguez, that was just a reason to work harder. You wanted to solve this case, though? Oh, I think the case is solved. You wanted to see Salazar in court? Definitely. Definitely I wanted to see Salazar in court. Salazar had admitted to police he'd been with Sandra Oriana in her hotel room and that she had fallen to her death while they were fooling around on the balcony.

17:02But after being held for 48 hours, he was released. When Robert Salazar was released, how did you feel? The job was just beginning. Then, two months later, the Los Angeles County coroner ruled Sandra Oriana's death was a homicide. Sandra's family just couldn't understand why Robert Salazar wasn't in jail, or at least on trial. What did you think when the authorities decided not to charge him? It was unbelievable. We couldn't believe it. Basically, we asked questions. We didn't understand why they were letting him go. Robert Salazar was let go back in 1996 because prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to get a conviction.

17:44But something else was influencing the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office at that time. The DA had just lost one high-profile murder case, O.J. Simpson, and didn't want to risk losing another, the so-called sex on the balcony case. We all have speculated that the fact that the O.J. verdict had come in just a year before that and had really impacted the district attorney's office at that time. Deputy District Attorney Bob Foltz remembers those uneasy days. So what happens is a lot of people do. They get really, really cautious and they start writing things down and they tell the police to go out and investigate some more and that's how these cases kind of get shifted off to the side.

18:24Ray Rodriguez wasn't going to allow this case to get shifted to the side. In fact, just a few days after Salazar was released, the detective was actually gathering bits of his suspect for evidence. Actually, I went to Houston to get a warrant for Robert Salazar so he could get his blood and hair and DNA for DNA comparisons to the blood that we had found at the scene. And then, to understand the physics of the fall or the push, detectives made a fire hose dummy and in a highly publicized move, dropped it a number of times from the hotel balcony. They also consulted Hollywood stuntmen and biomechanical engineers.

19:07Their conclusion? That some force had to be applied beyond the railing to allow that body to go from where he said that she went over to where she landed, way over here on the left, a good 13 feet behind her. Sandra Oriana's body was found directly below the left end of her eighth floor balcony and just a couple of feet from the facade of the hotel. I don't like going out on that balcony at all. What do you believe happened out here? I believe that he brought her out here, carried it over here, put her here, jumped on the rail and applied force from the right to the left. That's why she ends up over there.

19:46The lack of fingerprints or any disturbances on the rail that would support Robert Salazar's version of events was just more proof for Rodriguez. The rail was completely covered with dust. There was only two spots of disturbances, and it was what you did when you first walked out. You came out here, and you just instinctively put your hands on the railing, and you looked over. But even with the mounting evidence, months, then years passed with no action by the district attorney. Still, Rodriguez couldn't drop the case. There was something about this case that kept it ever present. So many memories.

20:25And the Oriana family wouldn't drop the case either. They filed a wrongful death suit against Salazar. We felt that we would take this avenue and try to see, you know, if he could be found guilty in a civil court, then maybe the criminal courts would take notice and find merit in it. So you're pursuing him in civil court, but you really would like the DA to change his mind and pursue him in criminal court. Right, exactly. The civil case was dropped after a dramatic development here in Los Angeles. The district attorney was voted out of office, and a new DA was sworn in. And Detective Rodriguez, who had never let go of the case, sees the moment.

21:06You're hoping they're going to see it with a fresh pair of eyes, and that's because you believe that you can make this case. Yes. You've got the evidence? Yes. Motive? Motive, yes. You got the guy? Yes. You just want to see it in the system? Correct. The new DA said, go ahead. And so, four and a half years after Sandra Ariana had fallen to her death, Robert Salazar's nightmare came back. What was the first thought that went through your mind when you heard that after all this time you were going to end up in court on trial for your life? The first thought that went through my mind, I was going to get blamed for something I didn't do.

21:43Robert Salazar tells his side of the story.

21:56To me, when she went over the railing, she deserved a 911 call if there was any chance of her being alive. Robert Salazar was full of deception and deceit right from the beginning.

22:13In March of 2001, Ray Rodriguez finally made the arrest he'd been waiting to make for four years. We filed a formal complaint, got the arrest warrant, and went to Houston and arrested Robert Salazar. We were out of Houston that same day on an airplane coming back to Los Angeles. The first thought that went through my mind was that I was going to get blamed for something I didn't do. Robert Salazar had never spoken about the events that took place in that hotel on that balcony in November of 1996 until he spoke with us. Every morning I wake up and I pray. I pray for Sandy, I pray for her family, I pray for my family.

22:55It was a horrible accident. In an exclusive interview while out on bail, he agreed to sit down with 48 Hours, his wife Beth looking on, to explain the events that have come back to haunt him, and why he should not be found guilty of the murder of Sandra Oriana. Yeah, I did some things wrong. I was with another woman. I was in a room I shouldn't have been in. I was with an employee, but I didn't cause her to fall off that balcony. Then he was general manager at Skill Master, a personnel agency in booming Houston, Texas. I was responsible for operations and I was responsible for safety and health.

23:36People worked for you? Yes. I had a staff of probably about 30 people. Sandra Oriana worked directly for him. He was her boss. What did she do for the company? She handled all the workers' comp claims. She was good at her work? She was good at her work. What kind of relationship did you have with Sandy at work? It was just an employee-employer relationship. Salazar denies the accusations that he harassed Sandra. Were you attracted to her? I wasn't attracted to her. I mean, I was a married man. I'd just recently gotten married and recently had a baby. But on November 12, 1996, he and Sandra Oriana were on the road together in Los Angeles.

24:16We were purchasing this company in California that had several offices. We needed to come and clean up their workers' comp. The night began at a nearby restaurant, a business dinner, but it also happened to be Sandra's 27th birthday. By your account, you've had four drinks over dinner. Correct. We also had some champagne when we checked in. So how would you describe your mental acuity at that point? Well, I was feeling. I was, I was... A little buzzed? Well, yeah. How drunk was she at that time? She was intoxicated. I mean, she had several drinks, just like me. I was intoxicated. I had several drinks.

24:52I mean, we are not, let's just say we shouldn't be driving. They weren't. A business colleague who'd been with them at dinner drove them back to their hotel and dropped them off. I walked in and you could hear the band playing in the bar. Sandy said, let's go down there and take a look at it. Why didn't you just go to your rooms and call it a night? I wish I had done that a million times in my mind. Why didn't I just go to my room? But Salazar didn't go to his room. After ordering a few more drinks, he says things started to get complicated. Started hugging, started laughing, started having a good time, started kissing.