SAN ANTONIO – The family of Dedra Salinas had for years told her husband Roy Hernandez to come clean about what they believed he knew about Salinas's 1999 disappearance.
Enucia Salinas-Cruz, Dedra's older sister, told KSAT 12 Friday that she once refused to bail out Hernandez from jail unless he told her what happened.
The confession never came.
Instead, a Bexar County grand jury this week indicted Hernandez, 53, in connection with the November 1999 murder of his wife.
Salinas's skeletal remains were found in 2006, buried under a makeshift concrete slab in the backyard of the home she shared with Hernandez in the 200 block of Cantrell Drive.
Although Hernandez had been in and out of jail multiple times since his wife's disappearance, it was always for unrelated crimes.
Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and remained silent as he was walked in front of the assembled media at San Antonio Public Safety Headquarters.
He is currently being held at the Bexar County Jail on a $75,000 bond.
"As a spouse, you know something about your significant other," Salinas-Cruz said.
Margie Salinas, Dedra's mother, described her daughter as "family oriented" and always attentive to the needs of others.
"Dedra had a lot of friends, a lot of people that knew her," Margie Salinas said.
According to Hernandez's indictment, he is accused of killing his wife on Nov. 25, 1999, meaning Saturday will mark 18 years since her death.
"We would like to know why. Why did it get to this?" Salinas-Cruz said.