Man Quits Job in Wake of Co-Worker’s Plunge From Balcony

A man who said he was having sex with a co-worker when she fell to her death from an Industry hotel room balcony resigned from his Houston company last week, while in California investigators tested tissue samples of the dead woman’s body for traces of Rohypnol, the so-called date rape drug, officials said.

Robert Salazar, 33, was in California on a business trip with Sandra Orellana, 27. After the incident, the firm for which he worked, Skill Master Staffing Services, began an investigation of alleged sexual harassment. No evidence of harassment was found, and the company was not commenting on why Salazar, Skill Master’s general manager, resigned, said Hugh Plummer, an attorney for the company.

The investigation was prompted by charges that Orellana’s friends and family members made to sheriff’s deputies after Salazar was arrested on suspicion of killing her Nov. 12.

Salazar said the two were having sex on the balcony when she fell. Her sister told investigators that Orellana was engaged and had planned to file sexual harassment charges against Salazar.

Salazar was released two days after the death when the district attorney’s office declined to file charges. Salazar’s attorney, Paul Schiffer, said Salazar was a popular employee with no history of sexual harassment.