Episode 172: Sylvia Salinas

0:00 Wondershare Video converter Ultimate makes life easier by providing you with a variety of video tools. Hello and welcome to the Catchment Killer podcast. Thank you for listening. My name is Mark. Since twenty fifteen, I've written a weekly newspaper column about true crimes and unsolved Thomas Sides for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio. This week's on solved Thomas Side occurred on Halloween of nineteen eighty nine in Galveston, Texas, when a woman named Sylvia Selenas was brutally murdered in a small grocery store that she owned. Sylvia took much pride in being a business owner. Customers liked her, and she was considered a vital part of the community. Although there was some crucial evidence left behind, a hurricane came through and potentially destroyed evidence that could lead to the person who killed Sylvia. Over thirty years have passed since she was murdered. Who killed this young business owner and why? Sylvia Sealinas, a thirty year old woman, was born on January seventh, nineteen fifty nine, in Galveston, Texas. She was Hispanic and had three siblings. As a child, She came from a family of

1:30 devout Catholics and attended Mass regularly. In the late seventies, Sylvia became the owner of Selena's Food Store. The Small Sword was in the same Galveston neighborhood as the one she was raised in. She was known as a valued member of her community who was friendly and welcome new customers to her store. People affectionately referred to her as anti sil or tea sil. On October thirty first, nineteen eighty nine, Sylvia's working in her grocery store, located at the corner of thirty first Street and Avenue Hugh in Galveston. Her parents had stopped by the store for a visit. When they left the store, their daughter was alive. This would be the last time they would ever see Sylvia alive.

2:16 At one twenty two pm, a private alarm was triggered and sent Galveston police officers to the Salinas grocery store. Four minutes later, law enforcement arrived to a horrific scene. Sylvia was found dead behind the counter. She was slumped over in a pool of blood. Her killer had stabbederded death with her own butcher knife. The knife was sitting next to her on the counter for protection. Sylvia kept a loaded revolver in a machete nearby. Either was touched, law enforcement believed she may have been taken by surprise. This would explain why she wasn't able to use one of her weapons to defend herself. The killer had pried open the register and stolen her cash, and since the register had blood on it, law enforcements speculated that the killer used a butcher knife to open the register after stabbing Sylvia to death. Is it possible that she knew her killer she didn't use one of her weapons. This means she was either taken by surprise or perhaps she didn't feel threatened by her killer. Law enforcement has since taken a second look at the case with fresh eyes to see if they possibly overlooked something. Unfortunately, some evidence may have been lost after Hurricane Ike rolled through back in two thousand and eight. The only evidence that remains is the knife in an old videotape of the crime scene. For this episode, I spoke to Sylvia's great niece. She is trying to get answers for her family and find out who killed her aunt over thirty years ago.

3:46 And now on with the story, of Sylvia Selinas, as told by her great niece Amanda Upton. I got a chance to look at the clip you sent me and other information. For instance, I look on Reddit and this case has gone unsolved for over thirty years, and there's just nothing on this case. I'm thinking that Hurricane Ike may have something to do with that, or nothing we can find, or any hellse we can get. Well, if it's any comfort to you, one of the stories that I did on here a couple of years ago just got solved because someone just got arrested.

4:29 I think it's gone international because the FBI was investigating the case. It was a soldier that was murdered in Germany. I interviewed her parents a couple of years ago, and she was pregnant and trangled to death. The homicide happened back in two thousand and one, so at the time when I interviewed her parents, they weren't too confident that anyone would ever get arrested for killing their daughter. And I think this past Thursday, they just arrested the guy who killed her. Oh wow, that's amazing to now. Yeah. I mean that's how we fill in the family in the same way as like anybody ever gonna get caught for this or what's going to happen. I'd like to start a conversation with you. Just tell me about your aunt. I realized that she died before you were born, so you'll probably have to tell me things secondhand that we're told to you from within the family. So feel free to just tell me what you know about your aunt. She died before I was born, like at Her name was Silvia Stool. She owned a convenient store, like a little grocery store in Galveston for many years, and I heard she was an amazing woman, always helpful to the community. Halloween their day.

5:47 Howe of nineteen eighty nine, she was stop to that. We believe, honest it was somebody she knew. Never let anybody behind the counter with her. It didn't matter whether you were her best friend or not. If she didn't know you well enough, you didn't come behind that counter at all. And where she was found at was behind the counter. There was no indication of fighting or anything. So from what I understand, it's a possibility that she knew the person who killed her and was taken by surprise because she had a knife and a gun. But didn't use either weapon on her attacker, correct, there was no indication of fighting. Can you tell me about the evidence that was found at the scene. From what I've read, the knife that was used was left behind. The killer didn't leave the store with the weapon. Yes, they had the knife, and then they had the bloody footprint stole, but nothing back then. They couldn't run fingerprints or anything like that. And Harvey came along and lost a lot of the stuff behind it. It was either Harvey or Ike, one of the hurricanes. It was Hurricane Ike. Yeah, I and they lost a lot of those stuff towards her case. I do know the face of there was a poshop finger

7:18 print that they're going to try to run, but we've never heard anything back on that, if they were able to find anything or not. Now. I do know that a lot of people were interviewed back when she was murdered, and there was nothing they could run off of that. Your aunt't have any enemies that you knew about. Maybe you heard through the family that someone had a rift with her, maybe someone possibly wanted to harm her. But I do know that my aunt was going to break up at the time with her girl friend and the woman was supposed to stop by the fear before she had moved at a stay to Hawaii. And that's the only person that we know of, but nobody that we know what kind of property he was taken from the store. I'm assuming cash was taken as far as I know, really loving the part a little bit of cash instead, I'm not for sure on that. I don't think that nobody ever tried to use it. The reason they're thinking that it was and when she knew is because it really didn't even look like it was a robbery. Now it's the time of your aunt's death. Who were her closest family members? Was it her parents who was a part of her inner circle at the time? But her parents and her brothers, sisters? Are her parents still alive? No, they passed away, so please, So they died without ever finding out what happened to their daughter. No, not at all. Okay, and now tell me about

8:52 your relationship with Sylvia. How are you related to her? Your niece? Correct? Yeah, from her great niece. My grandfather is her brother and that's how we're related. Now tell me about some of the stories that she've heard about your aunt. What kind of a person was she Oh. I heard that she was an awesome person, always happy, outgoing, loved her family, loved her friends, always helps me towards everybody. I've heard several times. She definitely didn't let nobody mess with her or anything like that. As far as I know, she was never in trouble or anything like that.

9:33 She was always a person that was with her family and friends and run in her convenience store. So what got her into the grocery business. Did she acquire it from a family member or was this something that she started on her own family through my great grandparents her parents, Okay, so they started the business and then they passed it down to her. Yes, I'm not sure if you know this, but convenience wars are considered one of the most dangerous places to work. I mean, as far as danger goes, cab drivers, the police, buyerman, that type of thing. So she decided to do this kind of business. Did she have any fears of running a small store? I'm not sure It's something that I personally would want to do for safety reasons, But I'm just wondering if she worried about her own safety or if she felt completely comfortable running a small store. As far as I know, it's what she wanted to do. She didn't really have a fear, and I don't think that she ever thought that anything like this what happened.

10:37 So what family members have given you the most information about your aunt? My mother, which is her niece. I've heard it through my great uncles and my grandfather as well. So they've shared stories about her with you to keep her memory alive. That's what it sounds like. Yes, yes, they share stories a lot about her. Now, tell me about the day that she died. Did anything unusual happen to her on that day? Did anyone threaten her? Or do you know if she had any types of issues or problems with anyone on that day? What has your family told you about the day that she died. It took everybody by surprise, even the community.

11:22 It took the community by surprise and everything. It's not something that anybody thought would happen. Is it was just a normal day. Now, what kind of a town is Galveston. I've heard of Galveston, but I don't really know a whole lot about the area at the time of your aunt's death. Was it a high crime area back then or was it considered a safe place to live, you know. Back then, I'm really not sure. I know it's a tourist town, Galveston, a lot of people come in tour you know, because it's got the beach and everything. I know now that it's a high crime rate, but back then, I don't think it's really much of us high crime rate as it is now. Sure, I've been in Texas a few times, but I've never been to Galveston. But I thought that I had heard that it was a pretty large city and that there is a lot of crime there these days, But I don't know for sure. Yes, these days there's a lot of crime. Now. I watched the video and I have to say that I'm kind of surprised that the building is still standing there. It just looks really airy, knowing what happened inside that building, and it's still sitting there like some type of morbid landmark.

12:43 Right. Yes, it's still there, and it's never been turned into anything else. It's just sitting there empty, and I guess it has been since your aunt died in there. That's empty from all the years. To me, it seems kind of strange that no one would have torn it down by now just turned it into a parking spot or something like that. No, they've still there, and I don't you know. I think the family had sold it or they were renting the property at one time, which put the store there. But as long as I can ever remember, it's never been nothing beside boarded up. Yeah. I guess that's just one of those things that you just see and a lot of people probably aren't old enough to remember what happened there, but people who've been in the community for a while see it on a regular basis and they know what happened there. Now, tell me about the investigation after your aunt was killed. What type of coverage did the story get. Was it something back in the day that received a lot of press and the police were really trying to solve the crime, or was this one of those cases where it wasn't really given much attention and it just went cold and people just forgot about it. So tell me about the investigation. Well, in the beginning, it seemed like they were trying to do something. From my understanding, they had interviewed a lot of people at

14:13 the time, and there was just nothing sticky that they can go against on anyone, So they had turned to a cold case. We had tried several times afterwards the family did to try to get the case reopened, never gotten anywhere up until recently, and that's been about four years ago now, and we still have yet to hear anything on when they reopened it. So the case is still considered an open investigation. Yes, so it's still an open investigation. Do you know if it's been assigned to a cold case unit. As far as I know, I don't think it is. I think they had just recently opened it up. There's a woman works for the new station called Courtney Fisher, and she goes through and tries to get cold cases reopened to try to get them sold. And how did that work out? Was there any success in finding anything new? She did what she could, but that was like four years ago. She had put it on the news and everything in hopes that somebody would come forward, but nobody ever came forward and nothing ever came of it. Well, you know, since it's been so many years since this has happened, there is a possibility that the killer is deceased. Yes, it is very possible, But of course it doesn't mean that the person who did it didn't tell someone about it. Correct, So

15:46 are you thinking that there's probably people in the neighborhood who know exactly what happened to her aunt? I do. I strongly believe that someone somewhere knows ei very scared to come out and admit it, thinking that they'll get in trouble, or maybe they're scared to admit it thinking that the person maybe the person is still alive and they don't want to see them in trouble for it. But I do believe that someone somewhere knows something. Now what family members are really pushing to get this solved? Are you the person in the family that's really pushing hard to get this solved? Myself? My mother, and my sister, my aunt and her brothers, and so there's still a lot of family members left that want to see your aunt get justice. Then. Correct.

16:38 It's been over thirty years since Sylvia Selenas is brutally murdered in her grocery store. Even today, the murder hangs over the family like a dark cloud. They still want to know what happened to Sylvia on the day that she was killed. Was she killed by someone she knew and trusted, or was this a random killing? We'll take a quick break and be right back with them and his thoughts on how the family is hoping that the media can encourage someone to reveal a crucial tip. Okay, so tell me about your family's efforts in trying to bring attention to this case. What are you doing to generate attention? Well, we got with Courtney Fisher and her crew to try to get coverage on it. We've tried other places but not gotten too far with it or no help. It has been on a couple of podcasts, but it was more not the family talking. I guess it was more like where people were getting it from the news station and then they would go out and do their own little podcast with it. Really not much and guy, so before I speak to people when I do the podcast, I always like to look at different news articles. I like to look at Reddit and just

18:10 about anything I can find about the victim and then in the crime to get an idea of what happened. Now. I have come across sometimes where some of the information isn't correct and family members will tell me don't believe this or don't believe that because that's not true. We don't know where that came from. So from everything that's online and out there about your aunt, would you say that pretty much what's out there is all true, most of the information about all of the age which was a facturate. I don't think that there's nothing that I can think of that would be anything of alarming to think that it would be a lie. The majority of it came from when the case was first open in family that has explained what they knew. What I find diserving it about the story is that she was killed in broad daylight. She wasn't killed in the dark where people could hide. I mean, it was Halloween, so it wasn't like it was nighttime and people were out there Halloween costumes and it might be confusing where someone with a mask might have done something to your aunt. This is something that happened at broad daylight. So can you tell me about the day that your aunt died? From my understanding, but it was just a normal day besides Halloween, and we on the Halloween people dressed up and stuff like that. So it's heartbreaking to know that it happened because it happened broad daylight, and we don't even know if this person

19:44 revealed who they really were. I mean I'm sure she knew who it was, right, if somebody happened to see anything, was this person dressed up or not? You know, it's just it's definitely very confusing that it happen and during broad daylight, and it was just a normal Halloween day that nobody was suspected that anything like this would happen. And what led up to the moment that your aunt was discovered deceased. I read that someone had tried to get a hold of her and there was an alarm that had gone off. Yes, well, yes, the silent alarm was triggered, and that's how the police were notified to go out there. They had found her deceased, And of course there were no witnesses. There was no one in the store.

20:33 I mean, it's broad daylight. I find it hard to believe that there was just no one in the area. Were there other businesses in the area, other employees of other businesses that could have seen something. No, that was more than a little neighborhood right there, in that little area. But they had interviewed people to see if anybody knew anything. Nothing, nobody knew or seen anything. Yeah, that's really tough. I mean, it's hard to believe that. Okay, it's Halloween, it's in the broad daylight. An alarm got tripped, and once an alarm got tripped, that means the police would have been there immediately, and by the time they got there, the person was able to get away that fast in those mere seconds before the police got there, and then no one saw anything. So it's like, did the guy just evaporate? How did you get away so fast?

21:26 Right? I mean, if it was a silent alarm, then I'm assuming the killer had no idea that it was tripped, So how did he know to get out of there so quickly? Right? Unless the killer somehow knew there was a silent alarm system, or even knew that it was connected to the register, that would be trash. We'll see. The silent alarm was triggered three D a cash register where they had pried it open and took the stuff out of there, like the money in the food stamps. So that's what triggered the finally alarm. So you're telling me that when your aunt was robbed, she didn't just open the register for the killer. She made him work for it before she died. Correct, it was pride opened, so then your aunt may have just said, no, I'm not going to give you the register. I'm not going to open it and give you the money, and that's probably why the person killed her, yes, right, Or it's a possibility that the killer didn't even give her a chance to open the register. The killer just pride to open the register after killing your aunt.

22:40 Correct, So what can you tell me about the knife that was used to kill your aunt? It was a butcher knife that was used in the store. Correct. It wasn't something the killer brought along with him, if I'm not mistaken. From what I was understanding. It was one of the mines they used to have, like a little eat market or something back there, and it was one of the knife from back there that was the murder weapon. It would have came from the store. So the killer didn't bring a weapon with him. I wonder if there is something significant about that. I mean, think about it. If you're going to rob a business, aren't you gonna bring your own weapon? You're gonna bring a gun, You're gonna bring your own knife. You're not going to use something that's there, are you? And then if you do bring your own weapon, that means you plan to do this. But if you didn't bring the weapon, does that mean that you didn't plan the murder and that it just happened while you were there? What do you think about these circumstances. Honestly, I believe that whoever did this either had this plan from the get go, it's just thought about it, or it was just a spur of the moment type. Do it sounds like there's a possibility that it could have just been something that happened spur the moment. Maybe the person saw your aunt handling cash and assumed that there was a lot of cash in a register and then just on the spur of the moment, decided that he was going to rob your aunt. Because

24:11 I'm thinking that, as I just said, if he planned it, he was going to bring the weapon with him. But then after this person killed your aunt, he left the murder weapon behind and didn't take it with him, So it wasn't necessarily worried about getting caught because he left the weapon behind, correct. Now, do you know if there was any trace evidence left behind on the knife? Yes, there is a partial finger print that they were able to find. So what's the status of the fingerprint as law enforcement figured anything out. And how long ago was this that they discovered the fingerprint? So four years ago, but I don't think that they ever found anything on that fingerprint, as nothing has been told to us on if there was a mass or anything. So I'm thinking who whoever did this either never been in trouble before, or maybe the fingerprints that they had the partial fingerprint just wasn't able to pull the match to anything like not enough of a fingerprint there.

25:14 So at the time the robbery, I'm wondering how thorough the police were back then when this happened. I mean, did they look into how many people had just gotten out of prison and lived in the area, how many people might have been on parole for robbery or some other kind of serious crime. So what do you think? Do you think that they looked into this very thoroughly? Yes, and no, I'm not really sure to be honest with you. Like I said, I know that they had stayed in that there were several people interviewed who always interview them. Not for sure, I know, you know, friends and family were, but I'm not sure if they looked into anybody further than they have just got out of prison or anything like that, and you know, sometimes those old habits are hard to break.

26:03 Some of these guys, these career criminals, they get out of prison and they go right back to it as soon as they get out. Right. Well, based on everything that I've read about this story, there's just not a whole lot of information about this case, probably because of the hurricane and because it was so many years ago. This case is going to need the public's help to solve it. What do you think I feel the same way. I feel that it will never be solved unless somebody will come forward and say, hey, I know something and this is who did it, or I remember then and this is what the person look like, or anything, you know, something to get us somewhere to get justice for her.

26:47 What makes us really challenging is that you don't have any witnesses, So you don't know what this person looked like. You don't know if they had a vehicle or a bike. I mean, there's nothing, You have absolutely nothing to go with. Some cases, they at least have a partial description of someone, but in your aunt's case, there is just nothing. No, we don't even know if it was a man, all of them who did it. Unfortunately, after Hurricane I swept through Galveston, it possibly destroyed evidence that could have led to Sylvia's killer. We'll take a final break and return to get a Mana's final thoughts on getting justice for her aunt Sylvia. Yeah, this is just such a bizarre case because there's just nothing. Now.

27:45 Of course, you have the hurricane come through, and I do remember when that happened back in two thousand and eight. I believe so if there was any good evidence, it's possible that it probably got destroyed. Yes, I know a lot of the stuff was messed up during the hurricane that had caused issues. They were actually very surprised that the video that they still had, the little VHS date where they went in. They were very surprised if that was even still there. But there really wasn't anything too useful on that tape. I think about the only thing that I saw in there that might have been useful was there was a picture of a knife blood on it. Yes, yes, that was on there. I don't remember if it showed the gun or not, to be honest, that she had behind the counter, but I do know it showed the bloody footpoint in the VHS tase Now does the family keep in touch with law enforcement? Do you contact them regularly and ask for status on the case. We don't reach out to them much.

28:56 Are we try to? But it's probably like you know, once or twice a year that the money will try to win chant because there's not much to go on to know. Now, do you have a Facebook page about this case? No? I do not. I would suggest that you consider putting up a Facebook page about this story. Maybe call it who killed my Aunt Sylvia or something along those lines, just something to bring attention to the case. And then you can also include updates from other crime stories that are happening in the Galvin scenario and just to keep people coming back to look at new material. And then also offer people the opportunity to leave tips through your page if they don't want to go to law enforcement, but just anything just to get some eyeballs looking at the case, because you only need that one person to find out about this case and say hey, I know something, or maybe the time they saw something and they didn't realize they saw something. You just never know. We just need to find out one person and that knows something right and what law enforcement agency is handling your aunt's case. So for anyone that's listening, who would they need to contact if they do have a tip. The police department has been challenges down with staying police department to cities.

30:18 Okay, thank you for that information. And my final question that I would have for you is for anyone out there that's listening to this story about your aunt Sylvia, if you could say something to anyone out there who might know what happened to your aunt, what would you say to that person or persons? I would say, please come forward, you know, do it for her the family. You know, if you were in this situation, you would want justice as well. And that concludes the story of Sylvia sealinas her family is seeking answers about what happened to her. Unfortunately, the case has gone cold and law enforcement hasn't arrested anyone for killing Sylvia. Were you living in this part of Galveston thirty years ago, perhaps you shopped at Sylvia's store. It's possible that you may have seen something and didn't realize it was significant and at the time. Although it's a possibility that Sylvia's killer is deceased, it's also possible that her killer may have confided in someone or given a deathbed confession. Could you be that person? If you know what happened to Sylvia, please call the Galveston Crime Stoppers number at four zero nine seven to sixty three eight four seven seven. I will be sure to provide this information in the case story NS And if you are a parent, law enforcement official, friend, or relative seeking justice for an unsolved Thomas side case, please visit my website and complete the contact form. You can also contact me through

31:53 Facebook. Thank you for listening.