It happened in the middle of the night in November 1996.

At a Sheraton Hotel just east of Los Angeles, a woman went over a balcony and met her death.

If she screamed, no one heard her. If it was murder,

there were no witnesses. If it was an accident or suicide, the circumstances sure seems strange.

When I first got on the scene, I knew that this was going to be a complex case.

The young woman's death would be homicide detective Ray Rodriguez's last case in a long 33-year career.

It was just after 8 a.m., the morning of November 13, 1996.

A call came into the desk there that there was an apparent suicide at the industry Hill

Sheraton that a woman had jumped from a hotel room balcony and that she was deceased.

The woman lay in a pool of blood 104 feet down from the balcony of her hotel room.

That morning another guest at the hotel saw the body from his balcony and called police.

I don't mean to get in detail, but how did it, I mean, how did it appear to you?

What did it look like had happened?

The body appeared like a lot of trauma.

There was a lot of trauma.

The only thing that I've ever seen close to that is like when someone has been hit by a train.

The body was naked except for a little camisole top that was on the body.

That was kind of concerning to me right then and there at the initial time that I first saw the body.

Why?

It's only been like once or twice that I've ever encountered a naked suicide.

And so the investigation began.

Officers located the room, identified the victim as 27-year-old Sandra

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