Neighbor Katie Pennington says Salazar and his wife were nice neighbors. She says she spoke with them occasionally, and recalled a conversation she had with Charles Salazar some months ago. "Well, he had told me had Alzheimer's, he told me that in the summer," said Pennington.
Police were called to the Salazar home Friday morning after Charles Salazar told a neighbor he had killed his wife. Police Chief Jerry Dyer says Salazar confessed to the first police officer on the scene. "He immediately told the officer he had just killed his wife and that he was sorry," said Dyer.
Dyer says the woman's body was found on a couch inside her home. Dyer says she had been horribly beaten. He said, "We do not know what precipitated this violent act we're not one hundred percent certain as to what was used to this trauma but we do know there was severe head trauma to the victim. This was an unfortunate tragedy."
Police had been called to the Salazar home a day earlier. Chief Dyer says Mr. Salazar was apparently upset because he didn't know where his wife was, and made up a story that someone was trying to break into his house, in order to get police to respond. Dyer said the investigating officer managed to locate the man's wife.
"She responded back to the address and told the officer that her husband had been experiencing dementia and that she would take care of him at that point and the two of them went in the residence and the officer left," said Dyer.
18 hours later, she was dead.
Police have not released the victim's name. She and Charles Salazar had been married for about ten years. Police say Salazar is a retired locksmith, with no criminal history. He is now in the Fresno County Jail charged with murder.
