Police Release Interview With Valet Who Spoke With Bob Saget Before Death
By Kristin Myers on March 22, 2022 at 6:45 PM EDT
The investigation into the death of Bob Saget seemed to be extremely thorough. Earlier today, police released photos of the hotel room where the "Full House" actor passed away.
On Wednesday, January 12 - 3 days after Bob Saget died - police at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office homicide unit conducted a phone interview with Orlando Nunez, the valet who was working on the Ritz-Carlton the night that Bob Saget died.
Police Interview Hotel Valet About His Encounter With Bob Saget
Nunez explained that he usually works nights at the hotel by himself, receiving vehicles and greeting the guests. Nunez recalled that “Mr. Saget pulled up to the hotel front drive as I was already received another vehicle and due to our training, I also went up to greet him, also grab the keys from his vehicle and get him on his way once he’s ready to go.”
“At first, I just do a normal routine, I open the door, greet the guests, welcome him back to the Ritz-Carlton, and hope that wherever they’re coming from they just enjoyed,” he said.
Nunez explained that he did recognize who Bob Saget was, but “I was speaking to him for a small moment before 100% confirming it.”
Bob Saget Admits To Having COVID-19 Shortly Before Death
When Nunez asked how Saget was doing, Saget replied, “Oh, I’m doing great. I’m going to wear my mask because I don’t want to get you sick. I just got off having COVID myself.” Nunez replied, “Oh, I’ve had COVID twice, so if you’d like to wear a mask around me or not, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”
After a brief conversation about when he had COVID, Saget took off his mask and that’s when Nunez knew that it was really Bob Saget.
At that point, Saget gave him his keys and they continued to make small talk. Nunez recalled that Saget told him that his family was sick, and the next morning he was getting up early to go fly back home to see them. Saget told him that he had just finished up a show in Jacksonville and an incredulous Nunez couldn’t believe that Saget had driven all the way from Jacksonville to the hotel.
Saget said that he liked Florida and Nunez joked, “Yeah, I love Florida too. My name’s Orlando. There’s no place I’d rather be.”
Bob Saget Cracked Jokes With Hotel Valet Shortly Before Death
Saget said that he was going back to California to see his family and mentioned a show he did in the Mid-West and he was trying to remember where, but he said somewhere from Oregon to Reno.
They also spoke a little bit more about COVID-19 and the pandemic and Saget said that it felt like they “just released a new form of the virus like it’s going out of style.” He joked around and said it’s like “they’re just releasing new ones every other week and giving them sorority names to make them sound cool.”
After that, Saget mentioned he was tired and said he was going to retire for the night. Right before he left, Nunez asked if he could snap a photo with him and they took a quick selfie before Saget went on his way up to his room. He said that the conversation lasted ten minutes and the officer noted that everyone he talked to said that Bob Saget was a “really friendly, outgoing guy.”
Hotel Valet Did Not Notice Anything Unusual In His Behavior
While they were talking, Nunez said he didn’t notice anything unusual in Bob Saget’s behavior. “Thinking back on it, nothing itself seemed unusual about my interaction with him,” he recalled. “Me speaking to him, he didn’t sound as if he was sick or he didn’t sound abnormal. He seemed fine, as he was, me speaking to him for that small period of time. He just seemed fine. I’m not really sure what else I could say.”
Nunez said that Saget was not slurring his words and had no problems moving. “Everything about my interaction with him just seemed fine,” he recalled. “Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”
When he got into Saget’s car, Nunez said there was nothing out of ordinary about his rental vehicle: a white Chevy Impala. Nunez said he didn't inspect the vehicle very thoroughly but did not believe that it had any damage, which would have been noticeable on a white car. Saget had retrieved a satchel-like black bag that he wore over one shoulder from the vehicle, but the rental car seemed to be otherwise empty.
When asked if there was anything else that stood out to him, Nunez just said, “I don’t believe anything truly stood out of the ordinary that would have caught my attention. I believe everything just seemed as normal as possible, or as normal as it could be.”
