10 September 2023 , 08:00
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A man has been charged with murder after he was accused of stalking, threatening, and paying a strip club dancer before fatally shooting her.
Authorities said Stanley Szeliga, 54, is alleged to have paid Abigail Saldaña, 22, around a thousand dollars after he frequented Rick’s Cabaret, the club where Saldaña worked in Texas.
Szeliga was accused of fatally shooting the mother of two, behind the wheel of her car in Fort Worth last week, not far from the club. At roughly 9pm on October 26, a witness reported watching a car veer off an exit ramp onto a grassy area, police said. The 911 caller described bullet holes in the car’s passenger side and a person inside who wasn’t moving.
Responding officers and emergency personnel later pronounced Saldaña dead. Three shell casings and broken glass were found not far from Saldaña’s car.
Saldaña had expressed serious concerns about Szeliga, posting a video on her Instagram on October 14 about a tracking device she found underneath her car. A club manager showed Saldaña’s post to investigators, alerting them to her fears about Szeliga, a warrant recorded.
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The warrant stated: “The manager indicated that Abigail was frightened of Stan because he was stalking and harassing her.”
Stanley Szeliga, 54, was accused of stalking, harassing and threatening the 22-year-old mother (Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office)Authorities said that footage obtained from a traffic camera near Saldaña’s apartment showed Szeliga’s red pick-up tailing Saldaña’s car. Investigators said that license plate records and additional surveillance footage from that intersection show Szeliga’s car passing the same spot near Saldaña’s home at least five other times before she was shot, which were indications of stalking.
Saldaña’s mother, Jessica Contreras, told the Star-Telegram : “I don’t know where she was going that night. We got a text about 6:30 p.m. that night, and the shooting happened about two hours later.”
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by local outlets, Szeliga had posted on Instagram about making Zelle payments to Saldaña at times for $800, $200, and $1,000.
Three hours before Saldaña’s murder, Szeliga posted that he paid Saldaña $3,000. Szeliga threatened in the post to report her for alleged prostitution, detectives said. In one Instagram post on Szeliga’s page, he claimed that he “envisioned a future,” with Saldaña but insisted that she had been lying to him and that he was a victim.
He wrote: “I never thought I’d be one of those guys taken advantage of. Sharing for awareness. Abigail S. and I, since July 2021, we have been enjoying each other’s company.
“She’s so beautiful and personable that I envisioned a future with her. But dealing with all the lies is overwhelming, I realize that’s part of your primary job as an adult entertainer. If you only leave your second job, being in a high-end prostitution ring we could move forward. Yes, this pays $2000 per session, but it’s illegal. And having a boyfriend whilst having sex with other men?!”
According to police documents, Szeliga was arrested after initially agreeing to meet with detectives and then failing to show up. Police obtained a warrant to enter his home the night after Saldaña’s murder. After he refused to leave the residence, a SWAT team found him on a balcony in his apartment with wounds on his face and neck that appeared to be self-inflicted.
After being treated at a local hospital, Szeliga was charged in connection with Saldaña’s death on Thursday and is being held in the Tarrant County Jail.
Contreas told WFAA that her daughter was a hard-working and courageous mother: “He took her away from me, and I’m gonna make sure every time he has a court date, he will see my face there. He’s gonna see that Abby was never alone.”
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