Police in New Mexico have identified the mummified remains of a woman found in her Santa Fe apartment as that of children’s author and one-time Oakland bilingual teacher Barbara “Bobbi” Salinas-Norman, 70. Her body was discovered last week by a relative who had stopped to check on her while in New Mexico for a Cinco de Mayo event. Authorities say she appeared to have been dead for more than a year. Salinas-Norman founded and ran a publishing company called Pinata Publications while writing books aimed at Mexican American children.
Some who knew her say her life had unraveled in recent years, and that she often slept in her car and washed in the restroom of a local library. The gas and electricity had been turned off at the apartment because she apparently hadn’t been able to pay her bills. The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper writes about it.
