Man Held After Employee Dies in Fall

A Houston man was in custody on suspicion of murder Thursday after an employee with whom he claimed to be having sex fell to her death from a hotel balcony, officials said.

Sandra Lorena Orellana, who worked for a Houston employment agency, and her boss, Robert Salazar, were staying at the Industry Hills Sheraton on a business trip this week, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Dinsmoor said. Orellana’s body was found on a patio at the Sheraton on Wednesday morning.

Deputies initially investigated the death as a suicide, Dinsmoor said. But Salazar came forward and said that after going out to dinner Tuesday night, he and Orellana, 27, retreated to her room and began to have sex on her eighth-floor balcony when she fell, Dinsmoor said.

Salazar made “inconsistent statements” and was booked on suspicion of murder at the Industry sheriff’s station, where he is being held without bail, Dinsmoor said.