Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - An old VHS tape offers new clues in Sylvia Salinas murder

Episode Date: July 16, 2018

Sylvia Salinas was working behind the counter at her family's grocery store in Galveston, Texas, when she was fatally stabbed through the heart on Halloween day in 1989. The investigation of the 30-year-old's murder turned cold decades ago, but the work of a TV reporter and Salina's great niece has revealed new clues in an old videotape of the crime scene. Nancy Grace looks at the evidence and talks to that niece, Maria Baker, along with Sylvia's brother Derlis Salinas. She is also joined by Houston ABC13 reporter Courtney Fischer, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, and Juvenile Judge & lawyer Ashley Willcott. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. today at P.I. Magazine dot com. Use this show's promotional code for your special discount at P.I. Magazine dot com. Subscribe today. Use promo code Nancy for your special discount. That's promo code Nancy. Crime stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. You know they say justice never sleeps. Is that true? Will an old VHS tape help us solve the murder of a beautiful woman in Galveston, stabbed in the heart. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and we want answers. Joining me right now, the victim, Sylvia's brother, Dirlis Salinas,

who only recently returns to the scene of the stabbing. I know how that feels, Darylis, believe it or not. After all these years, I still have not gone back to the scene where my fiance was murdered. I don't think it would help me in any way. Just something innate inside of me. I don't want to go see it. I don't want to stand there. And I don't want to go into what kind of depression it might bring on and me be sad around my 10-year-old twins. That took a lot of guts, Darla Salinas. Also with me, Sylvia's niece, Maria Baker.

Courtney Fisher, investigative reporter with ABC 13 who's been on the story, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, juvenile judge, lawyer, and founder of childcrimewatch.com, Ashley Wilcott, Alan Duke, and Jackie Howard. We want answers first to Courtney Fisher with ABC 13. Courtney, when I first read the title of a story that you wrote, I was in. I was all in and there was no turning back. Your title says, VHS tape that

survived could help solve murder of Galveston woman stabbed in heart. It says survived Ike. What do you mean by that? So Hurricane Ike back in 2008 actually destroyed a lot of evidence in cold case files in Galveston. And that's where Sylvia Salinas was murdered. And so they've had to sift through. Actually, a few detectives even have gotten sick trying to sift through old evidence and see what's made it, what hasn't. So when Phyllis' family contacted me, the detectives had to go back into their evidence room.

They didn't really know what they had at this case. They hadn't gotten that far. I was first told all of the evidence was destroyed, and that was just unfortunate. That's just the way it was. Okay, wait a minute. I've got to tell you something. Yeah. Dirless and Maria and everybody, thank you for being with us because this case is hurting my heart.

I want to address something. Dirless and Maria Baker, you are blood relatives of Sylvia. And I want to tell you something. Don't be too hard on the evidence being lost. A, of course, it was a hurricane. But B, let me just tell you what happened to me. don't be too hard on the evidence being lost. A, of course, it was a hurricane, but B, let me just tell you what happened to me. I had just gotten to the DA's office. I had been prosecuting for a while, and the elected district attorney said, Hey, a case has been reversed. We tried it the first time about 14 years ago. It went all the way up to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which is one

rung below the Supreme Court, and it got reversed. And it's made its way back down to the DA's office to retry. I went looking for it. Guess what evidence was left? There was one x-ray. I didn't know who it was. I could see there was a bullet in the X-ray, okay? And a picture from an ATM machine of a guy. I couldn't see his face, but his hat said, kiss my bass. That's all the evidence I could find. And we didn't have a hurricane. But over 14 years, when I was still in undergrad and going through law school, the evidence room had been moved.

And all the evidence had either been lost or mislocated. It happens. And it sounds crazy and it sounds too bizarre to be true. But it happens. And let me tell you something. It took me a while. Put that case back together again and got a conviction, okay, on Henry Hamilton. That was the co-defendant that I tried.

God willing, he's still in jail right now. Okay, Courtney, did not mean to interrupt, but I had to let Dirlis and Maria know. It happens. Absolutely. Okay, it's not a conspiracy. And we talked about that. Hurricane Ike, property. Okay, go ahead.

So I said to the detectives, you know, that's unfortunate. I had to bring it back to the family. Obviously, that's not exciting news you want to share with them. We were all disappointed. And then I got a phone call from another detective who said she hadn't seen the case yet, but she had gotten it assigned to her. She hadn't made her way to the case yet. She was willing to look, and she called me and said, you're not going to believe it. But we found this VHS tape, this original VHS tape of the detective walking the entire crime scene. Wow. And we were both shocked because she said, I am so surprised this survived

the hurricane. Okay. That is a miracle that it survived. I want you to hear what Dirlis Salinas says to KTFK. Listen. Dirlis Salinas... When I first walked up... Hasn't been to his sister's old store... It hit me all over again. In 28 years.

And it breaks the heart, you know. This is where Sylvia Salinas was murdered on Halloween Day 1989. She didn't deserve to die that way. Nobody does. And with me now is journalist Salinas. That's Sylvia's brother and Maria Baker, his niece. Mr. Salinas, tell me what led you to go back to the scene of the crime. The reason I went back is because the family needs closure. We want to put this behind us and find justice. Do you recall, of course you do, when Sylvia was murdered? Yes, I do. Yes, I do remember. What happened, Darlis? When did you discover what had happened? Oh, I was in Hawaii at work when I got a phone call from the neighbor telling me what happened. Why were you in Hawaii?

I decided to move to Hawaii. We thought about possibly opening up stores in Hawaii. I talked to my sister about it before I left, and she was interested, and she thought that it was a good idea. She said that, you know, she'd like to come over one day, that she was planning to put the store up for sale. Oh, my stars, it just breaks my heart. Ashley Wilcott with me, juvenile judge, lawyer, founder of childcrimewatch.com.

Ashley, she was that close to going to Paradise. You know, Ashley, I've always wanted to go to Hawaii. I've never been, but it's just, I've been told absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth. And to think that Sylvia stayed here and hadn't gone yet, and this happens. It's just such an ironic twist of fate.

It is, and Dirlis and Maria, my heart breaks for you all because here she is working hard, doing the right thing to be able to then go somewhere like Hawaii and this happens to her. It just again doesn't make sense. Guys, we are talking about the unsolved murder of an absolutely beautiful lady, Sylvia Salinas. So Duraless, you are in Hawaii at the time you discover your sister has been killed. What do you know of what happened that Halloween night of her murder? I've only learned actually recently what actually happened in the store.

Unfortunately, when I came back, I had to do the closure of the store and, you know, sell the store out and get all the paperwork together. There's details that I really didn't actually know too well, only what the investigators told me, and they didn't have any witnesses at the time. You know what's funny, odd? Joe Scott Morgan, a forensics expert, I remember for years and years and years, I would not divulge to anyone about Keith's murder. And then when I became a prosecutor, defense attorneys would use anything to get under the DA's skin or cause a problem in the case, try to throw the judge off the case,

try to throw this witness out. I never let anybody know I was a crime victim, that my fiance was murdered just for our wedding. Because I thought somehow, and I know I was a crime victim, that my fiance was murdered just for our wedding. Because I thought somehow, and I didn't really even know how, that they would use it against me. And it was well on, believe it or not, Joe Scott, before I went public, it was years later, after I started the show with Johnny Cochran and moved to New York, that I publicly talked about Keith's murder, and it was with Larry King. And it's the oddest thing.

When he asked me the date of Keith's murder, I got the day right. I said the wrong year. I don't know why. Then all sorts of stories on the Internet started about how Keith really wasn't dead, how I didn't have the facts straight, how he had been a cop. No, he was a liquor store. No, this, no, that. And it's the most bizarre thing. But you know the truth to this day, Joe Scott, I have not gone back and read the appeal in that case, the trial transcript. I don't know why. Maybe I don't want to know everything or it's just too

painful. But what he's saying, what Dirlis is saying that he didn't know why maybe i don't want to know everything or it's just too painful but what he's saying what durless is saying that he didn't know all the facts that that's not really uncommon it's like it's something that hurts so much it it's like picking up a rattlesnake and expecting it to be a good experience it's not no it's it never is, Nancy. And I think that people that I've gone back and talked to on cold cases over the course of my career, one of the things they do is they kind of shelter, you know, they shelter their psyche, their spirit, whatever it is that kind of drives you. They try to protect that in their brain, but yet something, some flash will occur and it all comes back new. I can only imagine, Darlis, that in that moment in time, you were shocked when this terrible tragedy beset your family.

And I'm very sorry, but I'm curious, I think, to know what was your initial reaction? I mean, was it one, obviously you were shocked, but I'm sure that there was a long period of disbelief, particularly considering you were at such a distance when this happened. Well, unfortunately, I had a lot of anger. My first instinct was for some reason I was angry and mad that I wasn't there. If I would have been in Galveston, maybe I could have been in it. I felt lost, and I didn't know how to help him.

Dirless, with me is Sylvia Salinas' brother and niece. And I almost hate to have a mom because a lot of times when murder victims start talking about what happened, it just brings it all back. You know, some people like to talk about their issues, and somehow it helps them. I'm not like that, Darylis, at all.

I remember when my father passed away, our pastor at our little Methodist church has asked me, I don't know how many times, do you want to get together and talk? I'm like, no, I I don't because it just compounds it makes me live through it again and again and again we're talking about a beautiful young lady Sylvia Salinas the photos of her she's stunning she was stabbed dead on Halloween. Now, the original timeline states she was alone at Selena's Food Store. Maria Baker with me, that's Sylvia's niece. The Selena's Food Store, is it like a 7-Eleven, a convenience store? Is that what it was? Yes, ma'am. It was just a little family grocery store. We had lots of regular customers that lived in the neighborhood.

I grew up in the store, so we would see kind of the same faces on a regular basis. That's so odd to Courtney Fisher, ABC 13 investigative reporter, who really got my interest in this case. I didn't even know about it until I read her headline about an old VHS tape that survived Hurricane Ike in Galveston was a piece of evidence found after the property room was destroyed. Can it give us answers in the Salinas case? Courtney, describe the store for me as best you know it. You know, it's in a really quaint part of Galveston.

The thing I noticed when we drove off, it's surrounded by these light-colored pink, green, yellow houses, a really sweet neighborhood just a few blocks from the waterfront from the Gulf. And it's just a nice neighborhood. It's boarded up now, but it was a white corner store. And the tape, when you look at it, the thing that struck me and the detective, I think, she was most surprised that I asked her, what was the one thing about this tape

that really surprised you? And it's as the detective is starting the video, when he goes up and he's outside the tape, you see the yellow crime scene tape and you see how many people are gathered at this crime scene. It's just clear that they knew Sylvia in this area, in this part of Galveston, and that she was well-liked, and people are shocked. It's the middle of the morning.

It wasn't a dark time of day. It wasn't a seedy area, and so many friends and families just started to gather outside of this crime scene. That's not something you see all the time. I cover a lot of day-to-day crime. You don't always see that, Nancy. No, usually people just keep on going. Sylvia Salinas stabbed to death on Halloween at the Salinas Food Store in Galveston. It was just 1 o'clock in the 1 p.m. hour. We think, 1.20, somebody enters the store. At 1.23, the silent alarm is triggered. The first officer gets to the scene at 1.27. Understand the timeline. Just four minutes have passed when the cop gets

there and he finds Sylvia Salinas dead behind the counter. Now, we've managed to obtain some of the facts from the police report. There were no defensive wounds on her forearms, her hands, or her wrists. One stab wound on her chest and a knife about 10 inches long was found near her body. And I want to get back to that knife. Joe Scott Morgan, remind me, I want to circle back to the knife. The knife is found there on the scene. Very unusual. the knife is found there on the scene very unusual beside coins and food stamps the cash register was empty sylvia listen to this this is another clue did not press the silent alarm it went off because the perp took money from the register. He probably had to use something, maybe that knife, to pry it open.

And interesting, she had a gun and a machete under the counter. She never touched them. Did she know the killer? She was sitting on her stool behind the counter when she was stabbed. What happened? Who murdered this beautiful young woman, Sylvia Salinas? Tip line, Galveston Crime Stoppers, 409-763-8477. Repeat, 409-763-8477. Did you know about a recent law that could leave your personal data exposed online for anybody to find? If you've turned on the news lately, you know the Internet has created a dangerous new world. Data breaches expose private information.

There's a new cybersecurity threat every other day. And criminals can sell the identity of you and your family on the dark web. It's time you take the power back by using a new website called Truthfinder. Truthfinder allows you to find out exactly what information exists about you online. Have you gotten a speeding ticket? Received a lien from the IRS? Forgotten about an embarrassing social media profile. Truthfinder searches through millions of public records, puts all that data together in one easy-to-read report.

Members get unlimited searches, so you can also look up those close to you and make sure they're not hiding something from their past. You also get free dark web monitoring to make Truthfinder the ultimate tool in identity protection. If your personal info appears for sale on the dark web, you'll be the first to know. Visit truthfinder.com slash Nancy. Enter your own name. Get started. The 30-year-old was sitting behind the register when she was stabbed in the heart. The killer's footprints, the bloody knife.

The very, very large knife. Never seen by the public until now. Investigators say the killer pried open the register with the murder weapon, then stole all the cash. Salinas didn't fight. It appeared very personal. Never grabbed the pistol or machete she kept close by, which is why detectives think she knew and trusted her killer. But nobody really stuck as a suspect. We are not letting it go. It's often said justice never sleeps. That may very well be true in the case of Sylvia Salinas and her brutal murder.

With me, her brother, Dirlis, her niece, Maria, ABC 13 investigative reporter who's brought this story to life, Courtney Fisher, forensics expert Joe Scott Morgan, and juvenile judge, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com, Ashley Wilcott. Dirlis, I almost hate to go into the facts and the evidence with you listening. When you hear us talking about the crime scene, how does that affect you? Well, it brings up memories of that day. I'm just looking for closure for the family, especially for my daughters, because she was real close to both my daughters, and they spent a lot of time together, and they need closure also. You know, Maria Baker with me, who is Sylvia's niece, is that true?

Were you very close to Sylvia? I was very close to Sylvia? I was very close. I lived in Galveston until I was seven and moved to Pearland with my mom at that time, but I would still go down every single weekend to spend with my grandparents and my Aunt Sylvia. And I grew up in that store. I was there every day. My aunt was amazing. She spent a lot of time with me. And we just want answers, and we want justice for her. She did not deserve this. I think it's very clear that a working theory to Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert, is that she knew the person, the perpetrator,

either a regular customer or a personal friend or acquaintance, because it's often been said she would not let anybody behind the counter unless she knew that person. It took Durla Salinas many, many years to go back since Salinas was murdered. And that takes a toll on crime victims. Joe Scott Morgan, let's talk about forensics and the new DNA development since Sylvia was murdered. For instance, we know there are footprints, bloody footprints. It sounds like the OJ Simpson murder scene where Nicole and Ron were killed and police were able to get footprints and knew for a fact they matched up to a pair of Bruno Mali shoes. That can be identified the make and style problem. Years have passed, and I doubt those shoes are still in somebody's closet

or in the possession of the perp, like Simpson still had the Mollies. But what about the bloody knife? That's highly unusual, Joe Scott Morgan, for the murder weapon to be left right there at the scene. I know. You know, one of the things when you first mentioned that, Nancy, for me at least, when you said that it was left by the sink, one of the things that kind of shot into my mind was, well, had this crime been perpetrated and then the individual was going to attempt to wash the knife off? Wait, wait, wait.

I didn't know it was by a sink. I said the scene. Is that what, Courtney, was there a sink i said the scene is that what court courtney was there a sink no it was at the scene it was right there right by the cash register just a few feet away it's on the video it's crazy okay joe scott that tells me a lot for instance let's compare it to cases everybody's familiar with like the robert blake case the murder weapon is found very close to the dead body because the perpetrator could not flee with it, break it down and distribute it in different places or hide it.

So what does it mean that the perpetrator, the killer, Sylvia's killer, chose to leave it at the scene rather than take it and discard it, get rid of it. Well, yeah, I was thinking that potentially this was something that was done in a fever, for instance. We already know, per the report, that the knife may have been used to pry open the cash register, get access to the monies that were in there as you stated the the silent alarm was tripped at that point in time and had it when did it happen at that point in time did the person just place the knife down and then rush out because they were

fearful of being caught remember this was done in the broad daylight in the daylight and uh we know what it says to me joe scott it says to me he did not want first of all we know it's a man okay this type of a statistically this type of a crime is is conducted by a male why i don't know that's for the shrinks to figure out but I'm going to go with the most likely scenario that a man did this. I wonder if the whole neighborhood was canvassed who they saw in there. There were no surveillance cameras that caught him. So let's just say a man. Number, first question to me, to Dirlis, Selina, Sylvia's brother. Was the knife already in the store, or did the perp bring the knife in?

I don't recall there ever being a knife. I just remember the machete she kept under the counter, but I do not remember that knife that I saw. So that knife most likely was brought in. To Courtney Fisher, ABC 13 investigative reporter, is the knife still in the property collection or is it gone? That was obviously my first question, Nancy. The VHS tape meant they had hope.

This detective said she was going to go back to the evidence room, try and see if that knife was there. Did it have forensic evidence that maybe back then couldn't have been picked up? They're looking at resubmitting it and they're looking to see if that knife still exists. That's a huge question though. Well, I mean, they still don't know if the knife exists. She doesn't know if it's in the evidence room or it's been destroyed. She has to go back. This is her first look at the case. So she found the VHS tape in a different area. Okay.

First of all, who is she? Who is she? The detective on the case, the cold case detective. Okay. So I know it sounds like a simple thing, but property rooms are stuffed full from floor to ceiling and they're usually very big and that is very difficult also if you're going through evidence in other cases you got to be very careful because down the road when you're trying those cases somebody will say hey this has been tampered with somebody's been digging

through this so you got to be super careful when you're looking for things. But they've got to get on that. Joe Scott, Morgan Forensics expert, what can we learn from the knife? I mean, what if there are prints on there? What if the perp's DNA is on there? Because, Joe Scott, you know when you stab somebody, very often, this is so unusual. The first time I heard it, I didn't believe it. The knife can slip and the perp can get cut as well.

Or DNA. What about it? Yeah. Yeah, and you'll have this commingling of DNA and also the commingling just from a serological standpoint where you're doing blood typing on an individual where you'll have a mix of the blood, say AB pos, OPOS, that sort of thing, and then you break it down further into this idea of DNA. One thing that kind of strikes me about this case, Nancy, as you well know, sharp force injuries generally are, many times you'll see things like overkill.

They'll be very passionate because they're up close and personal. Nancy, this is apparently a single stab wound that occurred. And I have to admit, it was a, unfortunately, it was zeroed in on target. They're saying that this poor woman was actually struck in her heart. And contrary to what people think, you're not automatically going to die if you're stabbed a single time. This seems like that the individual was up close, personal enough to be able to place this weapon into her heart specifically. So you're going to have a lot of evidence that not only goes to the physical tiebacks. I got another question for you. Yeah, the nature.

What about this thought? Yeah. What about this thought? Ashley Wilcott, you've tried a ton of cases. The building is still standing. You know, if there is blood spatter, if there, I know it sounds crazy, but it's happened before. Do you think there's any chance of still getting any evidence, any blood evidence or any other evidence from the scene? So I, you know, I'm not a forensics expert, but let me tell you this, Nancy.

This cold case, honestly, to me, has so much potential evidence that I believe two things in all cases. Number one, what goes around comes around. And I believe in our justice system. And so absolutely, there's an opportunity with the building still standing to see, is there any evidence that remains. And you've got so many pieces of evidence in this. The thing that I really noticed when you talk about the videotape is the fact that you can see all these people outside of the store in combination with Maria saying, I grew up in the store and we'd see the same faces. Already you have this pool of people to look back at the pictures and who was there, the building standing, to look at any evidence that survived. This is a good cold case to work, so to speak. I'm just thinking, jump in, Darylis.

I'm sorry. I do recall when I looked at the video and I looked, you know, I saw the knife on the video. It looked similar to a knife that we used to have in the store because we had a meat market, a small meat market in the back. I had the bowing knives and the other knives that I used to cut the meat up with. I remember when my sister started with us, working at the store, we did keep a knife behind the counter. At that time, because we didn't have guns, we didn't have any guns at the store, so we'd have some type of protection.

We'd keep a knife similar to that behind the counter. But the investigation said there was only a partial print left on the knife, so that means somebody had to wipe that knife. If it was one of our regular knives we kept, there would have been prints all over the knife. Interesting. Did you hear that? The investigator said there was only a partial print left on the knife. Did you hear that, Joe Scott? A partial print? Yeah, a partial print.

I mean, in this day and age, I don't even know for sure if APHIS was up and working in its entirety at that time. And even if it was, if this particular perp has committed a crime since then, I guarantee you he has. Okay. He may not have had his fingerprint in APHIS, but now he may. Yeah, because back then, Nancy, and I was right in the heart of my career at that moment in time, the APHIS was not as sophisticated as it is now. And, yeah, I believe that someone that would perpetrate this kind of violence,

there's, you know, I have no doubt that the individual would at least now be in the system. One more thing about the knife, if I can just address it very briefly. This knife and all of the blood-related evidence here, Nancy, that they've collected, these are bi biologics so if they have not been stored correctly we were talking about surviving the hurricane I'm from New Orleans I'm aware of what happens in the evidence rooms they're like a living

breathing entity they don't want to scare in a scary way these things break down very easily so this knife if it's in there has to have been really protected and i'm hoping that it hasn't been compromised as far as whatever biological evidence has been left behind well if there's a partial print i mean already we have two clues for the new detective and the cold case squad to go on the potential blood on the knife the well, there's three. A partial print, if it's resubmitted to APHIS, could very well get a hit now in 2018. And not only that, the footprints in the blood. But the thing is, do we have the photo of the footprints and do we have the knife? I mean, I've got a lot of hope based on that partial print.

Take a listen to this. About 20 men were interviewed, all of them eliminated as the murderer. But fingerprints were found at the scene and preserved. Detective Michelle Sullenberger says now she plans to resubmit those prints. The family is actually always the driving force in these cases to get some sort of closure for the family. So I'm hopeful. Tip line, Galveston Crime Stoppers 409-763-8477. Repeat, 409-763-8477. Please help us solve the mystery surrounding the death of a beautiful young woman, Sylvia Salinas, working at the family-owned store,

a little grocery store, 7-Eleven convenience-type store, in a very quiet and quaint neighborhood, Galveston. Her family wants answers, and can you blame them? With me, Courtney Fletcher, ABC 13, Joe Scott Morgan, Ashley Wilcott, Maria Baker, Sylvia's niece, and Dirlis Salinas, her brother. Dirlis, over the years since Sylvia was murdered, do you feel that she has tried to communicate with you? Yes, I do. In a sense, I feel something. I'm not sure what it is or what I'm experiencing. It's so feeling within you, it's inside of you, like she's pleading for help.

Darylis, I know that a lot of people would dismiss this, but I really believe that family members and those that love someone that's been murdered have, for lack of a better term, hunches. But in my mind, hunches are ideas that are created by the inexplicable. For instance, something you may have seen, heard, felt, observed. What is your best theory about what happened to your sister? I feel that it's someone that she knew and trusted. From the evidence they have, knowing my sister and what she's gone through in her life, she's very cautious. And you cannot approach my sister that way, but she'll keep a stranger at a distance. Even if it's a customer and she does not know you

you're not going to get close to her and that's because she had some bad experiences as a young girl she was unfortunately beaten and raped by an individual so she didn't have very much trust in men at all. The only people she trusted had to be a real close friend or family,

like her brothers, her grandpa, I mean her dad, my dad. There's no way to get close to her. She wouldn't allow it from what happened to her in the past. So I feel it had to be an individual that knew her really well because my sister would not turn her back to anyone unless she felt comfortable with that individual.

I honestly feel that it's someone she knows and she trusted. There's, you know, certain things happened the day before. And I think we're going to bring it to the attention of the police department. We didn't find, we found out later. And we have an appointment with them, and we're going to disclose that to them also we didn't know about. Certain things are starting to come out. People are starting to say certain things now. They're reluctant to say, or they didn't want to get involved.

So we're starting to find out a little bit more information that we didn't know back then. And maybe this will put some light on it. Are you free to divulge any of that to the listeners, or are you saving it? I prefer to save it because I don't want to jeopardize the investigation. I understand completely. Beforehand, I prefer the police department to know it first. I agree. I agree. Maria Baker, what has been your theory? You were so close to Sylvia before her murder.

I know my aunt's personality, and she was tough. We saw her chase a grown man out of our store that had stole a bottle of wine. And she chased him down the street, punched him in the face, a grown man, and grabbed her bottle of wine and told him, don't ever steal from her. She was a tough, tough woman. She was not afraid of a man. She was not afraid of a man. She was not afraid of a woman. I know where she was positioned in the store and seeing the video. There's no way someone could have done it from across the counter. They were behind the counter with her and she did not allow just anyone behind the counter with her.

It had to have been someone she trusted. A top detective with the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, Detective Michelle Sullenberger, is on the case and reviewing it and working it. With me, Ashley Wilcott and Joseph Scott Morgan. Ashley, it's hard as a lawyer or detective to put a case back together again. But I know because I've had to do it, it can be done. And as a matter of fact, Ashley, when I did retry, let's just say that one case I was telling you about, I worked the case so hard, I ended up coming up with about seven or eight similar transactions where the same perpetrator would attack, at that time, young males in the Midtown Atlanta area.

And many of them had never been prosecuted. I found victims of this guy who murdered an APD's brother, victims of his all over that had moved away from the city after this, that he had done horrible things to them. And I found them, and several of them actually testified at the second trial as similar transactions witnesses. So cases can be put back together again. It's very difficult, though. Is that true, Ashley? Oh, I agree completely. And I see it as a judge that the

amount of time, the amount of work that detectives, law enforcement, prosecutors like yourself have to put into it can be very overwhelming, right? It's going to absorb every bit of time that you have to do it. But in this particular case, there's so much good potential evidence. Yes, it's going to take a lot of time, but we have valuable information about this victim. And you just said yourself, Nancy, that's how you broke a case. You found the victims, you found similar transactions. There's so much good information about this victim and the fact that she was tough and how she acted and that she likely knew this killer. Put all of that together with all of these other clues, it's going to take a lot, a lot of work,

but I think it's absolutely invaluable information to solve this cold case. Somebody knows what happened to her. You know, it's interesting. I'm listening to Maria Baker and Dirlis Salinas. I remember many, many, many years later, I was having a book signing of the first book I ever wrote. And I looked up, there were a lot of people standing there. I looked in the back of the crowd. There was this beautiful blonde lady standing there. I looked at her face. Her hair was different, but I recognized her. Her name was Catherine. And it was the case I'm telling you about, the murder victim's fiance.

And they had been on the back porch of his condo toasting at sunset because they had just gotten engaged. And the perp and his co-defendant killed him and tried to kill her. And it had such a huge effect on her. She never remarried. And I recall during the trial, Ashley, she had been wearing shoes. They're called espadrilles. They were very popular at that time. And I was so enmeshed in the case. And she had described to me running from the scene. And in my dream, I was running from the scene. And I looked down and I was wearing the espadrilles

that she was wearing at the time. What I'm saying is years have passed since Sylvia was murdered, but for Dirlis and Maria, it's just as alive right now as it was then, Ashley. It is. And you're never going to forget a horrible murder of someone who's close to you. And it's like you said, and Joe Scott Morgan said, every time there's any little reminder trigger, it floods back as if it was yesterday. And you're never going to forget the person's personality you had for them and everything about how you feel. Take a listen to this. The Salinas family over here was groceries is hopeful too. Bad memories are difficult to move past but the good ones she had one of the biggest hearts always win. Christine Taylor never

met her great aunt Sylvia. I hear lots of stories about her but when she saw our stories digging into unsolved murders to be honest I figured it was a sign from my Aunt Sylvia. She called, so Salinas isn't forgotten. We got the help that we needed. To Courtney Fisher with ABC 13, their investigative reporter. Courtney, what now? I think the main thing is to keep this case alive, Nancy. You need to follow up and stick with the detective and keep on them and ask them, has this stuff been resubmitted? You know, someone in the sheriff's office actually has

one of the top APHIS investigators in the country who worked on the Robert Durst case. I've worked with him on other cases. And so he's the guy to keep on that fingerprint, that partial print, to see if there's a match. But I think everybody is very hopeful that this case may not be cold for much longer. Back to Dirlis Salinas and Maria Baker. This is Sylvia's brother and niece, who's very close to her. Dirlis, when you went back to the family store and you looked around, all this time you've been living in Hawaii, but you come back, what did that do to you?

And how do you feel about the investigation now? Well, I was kind of shocked and hurt. I felt the pain. The pain seemed to magnify it because I saw the grief and the hurt in my parents. And unfortunately, I could feel their pain also, plus my loss. It was overwhelming. I think it was overwhelming for the whole entire family. I walked in the store after, you know, the body was removed and I got back. I could feel my sister's presence inside the store.

And she was, in a a sense calling out. And I've never been able to filter that out properly. I'm not sure what the feelings that I was feeling at the time inside the store and looking at that area where they found her body, I could still feel my sister's presence. But is it like in a different dimension, different world? I can't explain it quite. But I could feel her presence and her soul still there.

To Maria Baker, Maria, do you feel that over this time period since Sylvia was murdered, do you feel that she has tried to communicate anything to you? I do. We were very close, and I've gone to the police station a few times as once I grew up and just, you know, really never got anywhere. And, you know, a part of it was maybe being a little scared just because I did feel it was always someone that was close to her. And you asked my dad earlier about a sign. And that's funny because I'm always asking for signs. And last Saturday I was sitting on my couch and, you know, I just prayed.

And I asked Sylvia, I said, please give me a sign. You know, we should keep pursuing this and not give up. And I have this daily app on my phone. And so I thought, let me just see what the app says today. And it says, if you doubt you can accomplish something, you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability and then be tough enough to follow through. I know that's my aunt talking to me because she was tough and she would not give up. She wouldn't give up on any of us.

And we're not going to give up on her. Please help us help the Salinas family solve the mystery surrounding the brutal murder of their gorgeous young sister, their aunt. The video we're talking about, the old VHS video that survived Hurricane Ike, it's a miracle it made it, but we have it. You can see it at crimeonline.com. Tipline, Galveston Crime Stoppers, 409-763-8477. Repeat, 409-763-8477. God willing, justice will not sleep in the murder of Sylvia Salinas. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. There's a brand new website causing a lot of trouble for people with something to hide. Have you ever had a bad feeling about somebody?

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