Sunday, February 8, 1965 is a bloody day in the history of the Sheraton Gunter Hotel. It's the day a woman was murdered at the hotel room and a mystery was borne.
According to San Antonio Police records, a man named Walter Emerick killed an unknown woman in room 636. A hotel maid, Maria Luisa Guerra, opened Emerick's room while carrying out her duties. Investigators say she found the ex-convict standing near a bloody bed with a box in his hand.
A Gunter Hotel blog says police arrived to find empty bottles of wine, small bloody footprints, olives, cheese, strands of blonde hair, nylon stockings, and women's underclothing. The blog also says officers found a shell from a .22 caliber gun on the bed and the slug in wall near a blood soaked chair. In fact, trails of blood were visible in and out the bathroom.
They did not see a body. However, they were sure a murder had occurred because of the large amount of blood in room 636.
Emerick, who had checked into the Gunter under the name Albert Cox, checked in the St. Anthony Hotel. He used another alias. Meantime, police figured out his real identity days later.
As officers tried to capture the killer, Emerick fatally wounded himself. Investigators say they tried asking him where was the body. Emerick took the answer to his grave.
Police have never found the murdered woman or figured out her identity. Investigators believe Emerick chopped the woman's body up and disposed of her remains. Some say he had purchased a meat grinder.
In the years following the viscous murder, some Gunter Hotel guests and employees claim the woman's ghost roams the hotel.
The hotel has embraced the story as a part of its history. In fact, the business held a 6th floor nightmare for Halloween.
