The family of a 72-year-old woman found fatally beaten earlier this month are asking the public to help solve a brutal murder that's put downtown workers on edge.
Investigators with the Houston Police Department say Alejandra Gueldner left her job at the Hilton–Americas just after midnight on Jan. 17 . . . But from there, the hours leading up to her tragic assault still remain unclear.
Surveillance video shows her exiting the hotel onto Polk Street, walking east and then turning north on Avenida de las Americas. After passing in front the George R. Brown Convention Center, she turns east onto Rusk and disappears from sight.
At 4:45 a.m., workers discovered Gueldner's body sprawled out in front of a business at 1200 Hardy Street — a full mile from her last confirmed location near the convention center. She was rushed to an hospital where she died five days later. Medical professionals determined she had been beaten and sexually assaulted.
Surveillance video recorded foot traffic at 1200 Hardy between 3 and 3:30 a.m., while an eyewitness claims to have spotted her leaning against a wall at the location around 3:45 a.m. Just before Gueldner was found, surveillance captured a light-colored SUV driving through the area and momentarily stopping.
Gueldner's whereabouts after turning onto Rusk are unknown.
Friends and family say she typically leaves work and rides the METRO 50 bus to her home near Broadway in southeast Houston. Investigators currently believe she decided to walk home or never arrived at her usual bus stop at Texas Avenue and Hamilton.
Anyone with information is asked to contact HPD's Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
Gueldner left the Hilton Americas at Polk and walked north in front of the George R. Brown. She disappeared after turning onto Rusk, only to reappear severly beated a mile north.
