Episode 172: Sylvia Salinas

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Wondershare Video converter Ultimate makes life easier
by providing you with a variety of video

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tools. Hello and welcome to the
Catchment Killer podcast. Thank you for listening.

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My name is Mark. Since twenty
fifteen, I've written a weekly newspaper

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column about true crimes and unsolved Thomas
Sides for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio.

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This week's on solved Thomas Side occurred
on Halloween of nineteen eighty nine in

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Galveston, Texas, when a woman
named Sylvia Selenas was brutally murdered in a

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small grocery store that she owned.
Sylvia took much pride in being a business

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owner. Customers liked her, and
she was considered a vital part of the

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community. Although there was some crucial
evidence left behind, a hurricane came through

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and potentially destroyed evidence that could lead
to the person who killed Sylvia. Over

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thirty years have passed since she was
murdered. Who killed this young business owner

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and why? Sylvia Sealinas, a
thirty year old woman, was born on

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January seventh, nineteen fifty nine,
in Galveston, Texas. She was Hispanic

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and had three siblings. As a
child, She came from a family of

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devout Catholics and attended Mass regularly.
In the late seventies, Sylvia became the

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owner of Selena's Food Store. The
Small Sword was in the same Galveston neighborhood

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as the one she was raised in. She was known as a valued member

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of her community who was friendly and
welcome new customers to her store. People

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affectionately referred to her as anti sil
or tea sil. On October thirty first,

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nineteen eighty nine, Sylvia's working in
her grocery store, located at the

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corner of thirty first Street and Avenue
Hugh in Galveston. Her parents had stopped

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by the store for a visit.
When they left the store, their daughter

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was alive. This would be the
last time they would ever see Sylvia alive.

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At one twenty two pm, a
private alarm was triggered and sent Galveston

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police officers to the Salinas grocery store. Four minutes later, law enforcement arrived

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to a horrific scene. Sylvia was
found dead behind the counter. She was

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slumped over in a pool of blood. Her killer had stabbederded death with her

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own butcher knife. The knife was
sitting next to her on the counter for

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protection. Sylvia kept a loaded revolver
in a machete nearby. Either was touched,

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law enforcement believed she may have been
taken by surprise. This would explain

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why she wasn't able to use one
of her weapons to defend herself. The

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killer had pried open the register and
stolen her cash, and since the register

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had blood on it, law enforcements
speculated that the killer used a butcher knife

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to open the register after stabbing Sylvia
to death. Is it possible that she

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knew her killer she didn't use one
of her weapons. This means she was

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either taken by surprise or perhaps she
didn't feel threatened by her killer. Law

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enforcement has since taken a second look
at the case with fresh eyes to see

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if they possibly overlooked something. Unfortunately, some evidence may have been lost after

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Hurricane Ike rolled through back in two
thousand and eight. The only evidence that

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remains is the knife in an old
videotape of the crime scene. For this

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episode, I spoke to Sylvia's great
niece. She is trying to get answers

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for her family and find out who
killed her aunt over thirty years ago.

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And now on with the story,
of Sylvia Selinas, as told by her

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great niece Amanda Upton. I got
a chance to look at the clip you

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sent me and other information. For
instance, I look on Reddit and this

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case has gone unsolved for over thirty
years, and there's just nothing on this

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case. I'm thinking that Hurricane Ike
may have something to do with that,

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or nothing we can find, or
any hellse we can get. Well,

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if it's any comfort to you,
one of the stories that I did on

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here a couple of years ago just
got solved because someone just got arrested.

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I think it's gone international because the
FBI was investigating the case. It was

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a soldier that was murdered in Germany. I interviewed her parents a couple of

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years ago, and she was pregnant
and trangled to death. The homicide happened

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back in two thousand and one,
so at the time when I interviewed her

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parents, they weren't too confident that
anyone would ever get arrested for killing their

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daughter. And I think this past
Thursday, they just arrested the guy who

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killed her. Oh wow, that's
amazing to now. Yeah. I mean

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that's how we fill in the family
in the same way as like anybody ever

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gonna get caught for this or what's
going to happen. I'd like to start

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a conversation with you. Just tell
me about your aunt. I realized that

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she died before you were born,
so you'll probably have to tell me things

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secondhand that we're told to you from
within the family. So feel free to

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just tell me what you know about
your aunt. She died before I was

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born, like at Her name was
Silvia Stool. She owned a convenient store,

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like a little grocery store in Galveston
for many years, and I heard

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she was an amazing woman, always
helpful to the community. Halloween their day.

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Howe of nineteen eighty nine, she
was stop to that. We believe,

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honest it was somebody she knew.
Never let anybody behind the counter with

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her. It didn't matter whether you
were her best friend or not. If

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she didn't know you well enough,
you didn't come behind that counter at all.

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And where she was found at was
behind the counter. There was no

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indication of fighting or anything. So
from what I understand, it's a possibility

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that she knew the person who killed
her and was taken by surprise because she

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had a knife and a gun.
But didn't use either weapon on her attacker,

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correct, there was no indication of
fighting. Can you tell me about

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the evidence that was found at the
scene. From what I've read, the

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knife that was used was left behind. The killer didn't leave the store with

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the weapon. Yes, they had
the knife, and then they had the

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bloody footprint stole, but nothing back
then. They couldn't run fingerprints or anything

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like that. And Harvey came along
and lost a lot of the stuff behind

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it. It was either Harvey or
Ike, one of the hurricanes. It

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was Hurricane Ike. Yeah, I
and they lost a lot of those stuff

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towards her case. I do know
the face of there was a poshop finger

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print that they're going to try to
run, but we've never heard anything back

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on that, if they were able
to find anything or not. Now.

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I do know that a lot of
people were interviewed back when she was murdered,

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and there was nothing they could run
off of that. Your aunt't have

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any enemies that you knew about.
Maybe you heard through the family that someone

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had a rift with her, maybe
someone possibly wanted to harm her. But

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I do know that my aunt was
going to break up at the time with

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her girl friend and the woman was
supposed to stop by the fear before she

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had moved at a stay to Hawaii. And that's the only person that we

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know of, but nobody that we
know what kind of property he was taken

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from the store. I'm assuming cash
was taken as far as I know,

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really loving the part a little bit
of cash instead, I'm not for sure

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on that. I don't think that
nobody ever tried to use it. The

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reason they're thinking that it was and
when she knew is because it really didn't

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even look like it was a robbery. Now it's the time of your aunt's

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death. Who were her closest family
members? Was it her parents who was

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a part of her inner circle at
the time? But her parents and her

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brothers, sisters? Are her parents
still alive? No, they passed away,

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so please, So they died without
ever finding out what happened to their

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daughter. No, not at all. Okay, and now tell me about

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your relationship with Sylvia. How are
you related to her? Your niece?

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Correct? Yeah, from her great
niece. My grandfather is her brother and

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that's how we're related. Now tell
me about some of the stories that she've

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heard about your aunt. What kind
of a person was she Oh. I

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heard that she was an awesome person, always happy, outgoing, loved her

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family, loved her friends, always
helps me towards everybody. I've heard several

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times. She definitely didn't let nobody
mess with her or anything like that.

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As far as I know, she
was never in trouble or anything like that.

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She was always a person that was
with her family and friends and run

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in her convenience store. So what
got her into the grocery business. Did

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she acquire it from a family member
or was this something that she started on

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her own family through my great grandparents
her parents, Okay, so they started

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the business and then they passed it
down to her. Yes, I'm not

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sure if you know this, but
convenience wars are considered one of the most

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dangerous places to work. I mean, as far as danger goes, cab

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drivers, the police, buyerman,
that type of thing. So she decided

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to do this kind of business.
Did she have any fears of running a

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small store? I'm not sure It's
something that I personally would want to do

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for safety reasons, But I'm just
wondering if she worried about her own safety

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or if she felt completely comfortable running
a small store. As far as I

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know, it's what she wanted to
do. She didn't really have a fear,

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and I don't think that she ever
thought that anything like this what happened.

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So what family members have given you
the most information about your aunt?

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My mother, which is her niece. I've heard it through my great uncles

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and my grandfather as well. So
they've shared stories about her with you to

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keep her memory alive. That's what
it sounds like. Yes, yes,

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they share stories a lot about her. Now, tell me about the day

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that she died. Did anything unusual
happen to her on that day? Did

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anyone threaten her? Or do you
know if she had any types of issues

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or problems with anyone on that day? What has your family told you about

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the day that she died. It
took everybody by surprise, even the community.

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It took the community by surprise and
everything. It's not something that anybody

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thought would happen. Is it was
just a normal day. Now, what

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kind of a town is Galveston.
I've heard of Galveston, but I don't

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really know a whole lot about the
area at the time of your aunt's death.

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Was it a high crime area back
then or was it considered a safe

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place to live, you know.
Back then, I'm really not sure.

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I know it's a tourist town,
Galveston, a lot of people come in

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tour you know, because it's got
the beach and everything. I know now

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that it's a high crime rate,
but back then, I don't think it's

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really much of us high crime rate
as it is now. Sure, I've

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been in Texas a few times,
but I've never been to Galveston. But

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I thought that I had heard that
it was a pretty large city and that

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there is a lot of crime there
these days, But I don't know for

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sure. Yes, these days there's
a lot of crime. Now. I

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watched the video and I have to
say that I'm kind of surprised that the

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building is still standing there. It
just looks really airy, knowing what happened

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inside that building, and it's still
sitting there like some type of morbid landmark.

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Right. Yes, it's still there, and it's never been turned into

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anything else. It's just sitting there
empty, and I guess it has been

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since your aunt died in there.
That's empty from all the years. To

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me, it seems kind of strange
that no one would have torn it down

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by now just turned it into a
parking spot or something like that. No,

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they've still there, and I don't
you know. I think the family

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had sold it or they were renting
the property at one time, which put

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the store there. But as long
as I can ever remember, it's never

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been nothing beside boarded up. Yeah. I guess that's just one of those

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things that you just see and a
lot of people probably aren't old enough to

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remember what happened there, but people
who've been in the community for a while

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see it on a regular basis and
they know what happened there. Now,

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tell me about the investigation after your
aunt was killed. What type of coverage

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did the story get. Was it
something back in the day that received a

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lot of press and the police were
really trying to solve the crime, or

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was this one of those cases where
it wasn't really given much attention and it

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just went cold and people just forgot
about it. So tell me about the

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investigation. Well, in the beginning, it seemed like they were trying to

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do something. From my understanding,
they had interviewed a lot of people at

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the time, and there was just
nothing sticky that they can go against on

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anyone, So they had turned to
a cold case. We had tried several

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times afterwards the family did to try
to get the case reopened, never gotten

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anywhere up until recently, and that's
been about four years ago now, and

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we still have yet to hear anything
on when they reopened it. So the

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case is still considered an open investigation. Yes, so it's still an open

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investigation. Do you know if it's
been assigned to a cold case unit.

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As far as I know, I
don't think it is. I think they

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had just recently opened it up.
There's a woman works for the new station

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called Courtney Fisher, and she goes
through and tries to get cold cases reopened

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to try to get them sold.
And how did that work out? Was

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there any success in finding anything new? She did what she could, but

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that was like four years ago.
She had put it on the news and

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everything in hopes that somebody would come
forward, but nobody ever came forward and

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nothing ever came of it. Well, you know, since it's been so

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many years since this has happened,
there is a possibility that the killer is

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deceased. Yes, it is very
possible, But of course it doesn't mean

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that the person who did it didn't
tell someone about it. Correct, So

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are you thinking that there's probably people
in the neighborhood who know exactly what happened

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to her aunt? I do.
I strongly believe that someone somewhere knows ei

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very scared to come out and admit
it, thinking that they'll get in trouble,

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or maybe they're scared to admit it
thinking that the person maybe the person

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is still alive and they don't want
to see them in trouble for it.

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But I do believe that someone somewhere
knows something. Now what family members are

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really pushing to get this solved?
Are you the person in the family that's

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really pushing hard to get this solved? Myself? My mother, and my

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sister, my aunt and her brothers, and so there's still a lot of

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family members left that want to see
your aunt get justice. Then. Correct.

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It's been over thirty years since Sylvia
Selenas is brutally murdered in her grocery

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store. Even today, the murder
hangs over the family like a dark cloud.

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They still want to know what happened
to Sylvia on the day that she

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was killed. Was she killed by
someone she knew and trusted, or was

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this a random killing? We'll take
a quick break and be right back with

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them and his thoughts on how the
family is hoping that the media can encourage

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someone to reveal a crucial tip.
Okay, so tell me about your family's

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efforts in trying to bring attention to
this case. What are you doing to

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generate attention? Well, we got
with Courtney Fisher and her crew to try

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to get coverage on it. We've
tried other places but not gotten too far

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with it or no help. It
has been on a couple of podcasts,

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but it was more not the family
talking. I guess it was more like

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where people were getting it from the
news station and then they would go out

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and do their own little podcast with
it. Really not much and guy,

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so before I speak to people when
I do the podcast, I always like

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to look at different news articles.
I like to look at Reddit and just

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about anything I can find about the
victim and then in the crime to get

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an idea of what happened. Now. I have come across sometimes where some

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of the information isn't correct and family
members will tell me don't believe this or

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don't believe that because that's not true. We don't know where that came from.

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So from everything that's online and out
there about your aunt, would you

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say that pretty much what's out there
is all true, most of the information

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about all of the age which was
a facturate. I don't think that there's

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nothing that I can think of that
would be anything of alarming to think that

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it would be a lie. The
majority of it came from when the case

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was first open in family that has
explained what they knew. What I find

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diserving it about the story is that
she was killed in broad daylight. She

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wasn't killed in the dark where people
could hide. I mean, it was

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Halloween, so it wasn't like it
was nighttime and people were out there Halloween

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costumes and it might be confusing where
someone with a mask might have done something

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to your aunt. This is something
that happened at broad daylight. So can

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you tell me about the day that
your aunt died? From my understanding,

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but it was just a normal day
besides Halloween, and we on the Halloween

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people dressed up and stuff like that. So it's heartbreaking to know that it

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happened because it happened broad daylight,
and we don't even know if this person

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revealed who they really were. I
mean I'm sure she knew who it was,

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right, if somebody happened to see
anything, was this person dressed up

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or not? You know, it's
just it's definitely very confusing that it happen

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and during broad daylight, and it
was just a normal Halloween day that nobody

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was suspected that anything like this would
happen. And what led up to the

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moment that your aunt was discovered deceased. I read that someone had tried to

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get a hold of her and there
was an alarm that had gone off.

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Yes, well, yes, the
silent alarm was triggered, and that's how

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the police were notified to go out
there. They had found her deceased,

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And of course there were no witnesses. There was no one in the store.

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I mean, it's broad daylight.
I find it hard to believe that

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there was just no one in the
area. Were there other businesses in the

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area, other employees of other businesses
that could have seen something. No,

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that was more than a little neighborhood
right there, in that little area.

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But they had interviewed people to see
if anybody knew anything. Nothing, nobody

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knew or seen anything. Yeah,
that's really tough. I mean, it's

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hard to believe that. Okay,
it's Halloween, it's in the broad daylight.

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An alarm got tripped, and once
an alarm got tripped, that means

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the police would have been there immediately, and by the time they got there,

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the person was able to get away
that fast in those mere seconds before

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the police got there, and then
no one saw anything. So it's like,

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did the guy just evaporate? How
did you get away so fast?

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Right? I mean, if it
was a silent alarm, then I'm assuming

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the killer had no idea that it
was tripped, So how did he know

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to get out of there so quickly? Right? Unless the killer somehow knew

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there was a silent alarm system,
or even knew that it was connected to

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the register, that would be trash. We'll see. The silent alarm was

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triggered three D a cash register where
they had pried it open and took the

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stuff out of there, like the
money in the food stamps. So that's

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what triggered the finally alarm. So
you're telling me that when your aunt was

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robbed, she didn't just open the
register for the killer. She made him

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work for it before she died.
Correct, it was pride opened, so

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then your aunt may have just said, no, I'm not going to give

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you the register. I'm not going
to open it and give you the money,

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and that's probably why the person killed
her, yes, right, Or

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it's a possibility that the killer didn't
even give her a chance to open the

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register. The killer just pride to
open the register after killing your aunt.

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Correct, So what can you tell
me about the knife that was used to

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kill your aunt? It was a
butcher knife that was used in the store.

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Correct. It wasn't something the killer
brought along with him, if I'm

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not mistaken. From what I was
understanding. It was one of the mines

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they used to have, like a
little eat market or something back there,

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and it was one of the knife
from back there that was the murder weapon.

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It would have came from the store. So the killer didn't bring a

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weapon with him. I wonder if
there is something significant about that. I

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mean, think about it. If
you're going to rob a business, aren't

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you gonna bring your own weapon?
You're gonna bring a gun, You're gonna

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bring your own knife. You're not
going to use something that's there, are

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you? And then if you do
bring your own weapon, that means you

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plan to do this. But if
you didn't bring the weapon, does that

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mean that you didn't plan the murder
and that it just happened while you were

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there? What do you think about
these circumstances. Honestly, I believe that

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whoever did this either had this plan
from the get go, it's just thought

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about it, or it was just
a spur of the moment type. Do

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it sounds like there's a possibility that
it could have just been something that happened

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spur the moment. Maybe the person
saw your aunt handling cash and assumed that

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there was a lot of cash in
a register and then just on the spur

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of the moment, decided that he
was going to rob your aunt. Because

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I'm thinking that, as I just
said, if he planned it, he

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was going to bring the weapon with
him. But then after this person killed

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your aunt, he left the murder
weapon behind and didn't take it with him,

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So it wasn't necessarily worried about getting
caught because he left the weapon behind,

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correct. Now, do you know
if there was any trace evidence left

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behind on the knife? Yes,
there is a partial finger print that they

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were able to find. So what's
the status of the fingerprint as law enforcement

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figured anything out. And how long
ago was this that they discovered the fingerprint?

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So four years ago, but I
don't think that they ever found anything

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on that fingerprint, as nothing has
been told to us on if there was

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a mass or anything. So I'm
thinking who whoever did this either never been

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in trouble before, or maybe the
fingerprints that they had the partial fingerprint just

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wasn't able to pull the match to
anything like not enough of a fingerprint there.

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So at the time the robbery,
I'm wondering how thorough the police were

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back then when this happened. I
mean, did they look into how many

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people had just gotten out of prison
and lived in the area, how many

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people might have been on parole for
robbery or some other kind of serious crime.

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So what do you think? Do
you think that they looked into this

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very thoroughly? Yes, and no, I'm not really sure to be honest

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with you. Like I said,
I know that they had stayed in that

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there were several people interviewed who always
interview them. Not for sure, I

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know, you know, friends and
family were, but I'm not sure if

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they looked into anybody further than they
have just got out of prison or anything

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like that, and you know,
sometimes those old habits are hard to break.

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Some of these guys, these career
criminals, they get out of prison

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and they go right back to it
as soon as they get out. Right.

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Well, based on everything that I've
read about this story, there's just

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not a whole lot of information about
this case, probably because of the hurricane

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and because it was so many years
ago. This case is going to need

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the public's help to solve it.
What do you think I feel the same

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way. I feel that it will
never be solved unless somebody will come forward

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and say, hey, I know
something and this is who did it,

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or I remember then and this is
what the person look like, or anything,

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you know, something to get us
somewhere to get justice for her.

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What makes us really challenging is that
you don't have any witnesses, So you

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don't know what this person looked like. You don't know if they had a

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vehicle or a bike. I mean, there's nothing, You have absolutely nothing

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00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.640
to go with. Some cases,
they at least have a partial description of

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someone, but in your aunt's case, there is just nothing. No,

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00:27:10.279 --> 00:27:12.079
we don't even know if it was
a man, all of them who did

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it. Unfortunately, after Hurricane I
swept through Galveston, it possibly destroyed evidence

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that could have led to Sylvia's killer. We'll take a final break and return

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to get a Mana's final thoughts on
getting justice for her aunt Sylvia. Yeah,

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this is just such a bizarre case
because there's just nothing. Now.

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Of course, you have the hurricane
come through, and I do remember when

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that happened back in two thousand and
eight. I believe so if there was

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any good evidence, it's possible that
it probably got destroyed. Yes, I

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know a lot of the stuff was
messed up during the hurricane that had caused

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issues. They were actually very surprised
that the video that they still had,

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the little VHS date where they went
in. They were very surprised if that

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was even still there. But there
really wasn't anything too useful on that tape.

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I think about the only thing that
I saw in there that might have

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been useful was there was a picture
of a knife blood on it. Yes,

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yes, that was on there.
I don't remember if it showed the

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gun or not, to be honest, that she had behind the counter,

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but I do know it showed the
bloody footpoint in the VHS tase Now does

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the family keep in touch with law
enforcement? Do you contact them regularly and

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00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:56.599
ask for status on the case.
We don't reach out to them much.

350
00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:00.720
Are we try to? But it's
probably like you know, once or twice

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00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:06.240
a year that the money will try
to win chant because there's not much to

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00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:10.519
go on to know. Now,
do you have a Facebook page about this

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00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:15.519
case? No? I do not. I would suggest that you consider putting

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00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:21.400
up a Facebook page about this story. Maybe call it who killed my Aunt

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Sylvia or something along those lines,
just something to bring attention to the case.

356
00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:32.799
And then you can also include updates
from other crime stories that are happening

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00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.559
in the Galvin scenario and just to
keep people coming back to look at new

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00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:41.079
material. And then also offer people
the opportunity to leave tips through your page

359
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:45.440
if they don't want to go to
law enforcement, but just anything just to

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00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:48.440
get some eyeballs looking at the case, because you only need that one person

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00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:52.079
to find out about this case and
say hey, I know something, or

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00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.480
maybe the time they saw something and
they didn't realize they saw something. You

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00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.599
just never know. We just need
to find out one person and that knows

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00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:07.599
something right and what law enforcement agency
is handling your aunt's case. So for

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00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:11.599
anyone that's listening, who would they
need to contact if they do have a

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tip. The police department has been
challenges down with staying police department to cities.

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Okay, thank you for that information. And my final question that I

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would have for you is for anyone
out there that's listening to this story about

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your aunt Sylvia, if you could
say something to anyone out there who might

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00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:37.559
know what happened to your aunt,
what would you say to that person or

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00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:44.559
persons? I would say, please
come forward, you know, do it

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for her the family. You know, if you were in this situation,

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you would want justice as well.
And that concludes the story of Sylvia sealinas

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00:30:56.039 --> 00:31:00.880
her family is seeking answers about what
happened to her. Unfortunately, the case

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00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.920
has gone cold and law enforcement hasn't
arrested anyone for killing Sylvia. Were you

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00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:10.720
living in this part of Galveston thirty
years ago, perhaps you shopped at Sylvia's

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00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:15.119
store. It's possible that you may
have seen something and didn't realize it was

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00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:19.720
significant and at the time. Although
it's a possibility that Sylvia's killer is deceased,

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00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:25.559
it's also possible that her killer may
have confided in someone or given a

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00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:30.039
deathbed confession. Could you be that
person? If you know what happened to

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00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:36.119
Sylvia, please call the Galveston Crime
Stoppers number at four zero nine seven to

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00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:40.680
sixty three eight four seven seven.
I will be sure to provide this information

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00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:45.319
in the case story NS And if
you are a parent, law enforcement official,

384
00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:48.480
friend, or relative seeking justice for
an unsolved Thomas side case, please

385
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:53.000
visit my website and complete the contact
form. You can also contact me through

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00:31:53.079 --> 00:33:13.480
Facebook. Thank you for listening.