Authorities believe a woman found hanging dead may be the victim of a staged suicide after disturbing clues were pieced together.
When neighbors discovered the body of 30-year-old Giselle Salazar-Tapia, mother of four, it was hanging from a dock at Texas’ League City Wharf Marina where she lived on a boat with her boyfriend.
The League City Police Department announced the find on May 31 through its Facebook page, revealing the first clue that something was not right with the scene.
Police called to the scene found Salazar-Tapia “lifeless” and hanging by a rope from the dock.
“Officers and detectives conducting the death investigation began speaking with the victim’s friends and residents in the area,” the department’s post reads. “A man who was possibly the victim’s boyfriend, became very distraught and would not come out of his boat.”
Authorities were eventually able to talk the man, James Hart, off the boat.
The suspicious evidence only continues to grow from there, including a strange find that now appears to be a critically important clue.
According to KTRK, when Salazar-Tapia was found, her arm was fixed in a rigid position suspended in the air. Lt. Eric Cox of the LCPD explained what may have caused it.
Was Salazar-Tapia murdered?
“We believe she probably passed away with her arm extended up above her head like that,” Cox said, “and then rigor mortis had set in prior to her being placed like that.”
Hart maintains his innocence in the matter.
According to Hart, his girlfriend left the boat sometime after midnight to go to the bathroom and never returned. Hart says he checked the bathrooms when Salazar-Tapia didn’t return but failed to find her.
Two cameras on Hart’s boat were found down after apparent tampering. One had been turned away from his boat while the other was completely missing.
Police have identified two persons of interest in the suspicious death.
Authorities have interviewed both people, saying they had the “closest interaction” with Salazar-Tapia while she lived at the dock.
Investigators are also combing through nearly 2,000 surveillance videos that may shed light on the exact circumstanced of her death.
A GoFundMe is open for donations to cover Salazar-Tapia’s funeral and provide for the children that were left behind.
