Ashley Kontnier
WIMBERLEY — Zachary “Zach” Salley, 23, spent just over two weeks in the hospital after more than 95% of his body was burned in a fire at Savage’s Hill Country Bar & Grill in Wimberley, before he succumbed to his injuries Sunday, July 13.
After losing their son, his father Robert Salley and stepmother Sherri Salley sat down to reminisce on Zach’s life.
Born three months premature on Sept. 8, 2001, Zach spent approximately six months in the neonatal intensive care unit prior to being sent home.
“He was a little slow to speak, a little slow to develop, but it came around,” his father said. “But it was pretty early on, to me, that I noticed there were issues and [Zach’s mother] didn't want to believe that there was anything wrong with him that parental love and attention couldn’t take care of. So, she really never wanted to get him assessed and I thought he could get more help that way.”
Robert explained that, though he and various therapists and professionals believed Zach was on the autism spectrum, he was never formally diagnosed.
“[His mother] didn't want to engage in that, and I understand why, because nobody wants to think there's anything wrong with their child. Whereas I didn't look at autism as a sickness, it was more as a challenge that you need to address,” he said.
Following the divorce of Zach’s parents, he primarily lived with his mother through his school years, while visiting his father and stepmother on weekends and holidays.
Zach graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic, though Robert stated that when questioned, his son was unsure what his future plans were.
“Look, I know your grades aren't the best, but I think we can get you in Texas State [University],” the father recalled saying to his son. “He's like, ‘I can?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, if that's what you want to do.’”
The father and son duo worked together through the application process and Zach was accepted to the university.
“So, he came here for two years. He lived on campus and then, he got student housing in an apartment and we saw dramatic changes in him, where he started developing friendships and coming out of his shell,” Robert said. “Still awkward, still different, but growing. It was great to see and everybody around us — all our friends and family — said, ‘Wow, this kid has changed.’ We called it ‘The Great Experiment’ when I ended up dropping $40,000-plus for those two years of school before he quit, but I could have spent $40,000 on therapists and I don't know that they would have done as good as that experience was for him.”
According to Robert, there was a time when Zach could not go to a restaurant and order food: “He just couldn't navigate, especially if it was like a place you walked into and it had the menu on the wall above you, so we would have to prep him.”
“Everybody would just order for him and we refused to accept that,” he said.
Robert explained how he and Sherri worked out a system where they would look up the menu online prior to going out and ask questions for Zach to narrow down what he wanted to eat.
“By the time we got to the restaurant, he could walk up and order. We kept doing small things like that. Where his brothers and sisters tried to cover for him, we tried to promote him to speak out and be himself,” Robert said.
“With that came great danger,” he continued. “He was a very trusting individual and if he was your friend, he would give you his shirt off his back and he would go to great lengths to help you. And if you called him, he came.”
When Zach decided that school wasn’t working for him, Robert said the two had a discussion with him about his next steps.
“He was working at Brookshire Brothers in Wimberley. He had gotten a job there and Sherri mentioned to him that Savage’s was looking for people and he went and applied. We thought he would do both jobs, but he quit Brookshire’s and he went to work there and they loved him,” he said.
Sherri shared that she originally thought they were hiring waitstaff, but somehow, she recalled, Zach had convinced them to hire him as a cook, despite never cooking in his life.
Two years after Zach began working there, emergency crews responded to a fire at Savage’s Hill Country Bar & Grill at approximately 5 a.m. Friday, June 27. Upon arrival, responding units immediately began fire suppression and search and rescue efforts, according to Christopher Robbins, interim fire chief of Wimberley Fire Rescue. After conducting a primary search of the first and second floors of the building, it was determined that there were no occupants inside or around the structure. The building was destroyed in the fire.
It was an hour later when Robert received a call from a police officer, who told him his son had been found with severe burns in the parking lot of his apartment complex in San Marcos. Despite his injuries, Zach was able to give the officer his father’s phone number before being taken to Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin by ambulance.
Zach was responsive, said Robert, but unable to recall what caused his burns. The officer asked questions, trying to figure out what happened. It was not until later in the day that the parents learned of the fire at Savage’s and put the pieces together that Zach must have been there.
As previously reported by the News-Dispatch, another Savage’s employee, Aiden Dwyer, 24, of San Marcos, was arrested Monday, June 30, and charged with arson.
According to Robert and Sherri, Dwyer had come up in their conversations with Zach previously. They stated that they knew Zach gave Dwyer rides home from work. Based on some of the stories Zach told him, Robert was concerned.
“I said, ‘Zach, he sounds dangerous to me. If I was you, I would stop giving him rides,’” the father recalled. “‘It gives me a bad feeling and I know you’re going to have a hard time doing that, but we really should tell him he needs to find another way home; not give him rides.’ But I don’t think he stopped.”
Two weeks later, Zach died July 13. Throughout their time at the hospital, Robert shared that the staff was wonderful, caring and understanding of their needs.
The next day, on Monday, July 14, Dwyer was charged with murder for Zach’s death. Though the fire is still under investigation, no charges were filed against Zach.
“As the parent of an autistic child, there comes a point when you can't control their environment, even though you want to try,” Robert said. “Our objective was to try to get him to be an adult, to make his own decisions and he was doing quite well with that, but I still felt like sometimes in his head he was only about 15 [and] some of the decisions he made were too trusting.”
One example of his trusting nature, Robert said, happened at his apartment complex, which was across the street from the county jail: “One night he was out there doing something, working on his car and an inmate walks across the street and says, ‘Hey, man, I just got out of jail after six months, they won't charge my phone. Can I borrow yours to call for a ride?’ And he hands him the phone through the fence. And I said, ‘What would you have done if he'd just walked off with your phone?’ He said, ‘I don't know. I guess get another one.’”
With the expected closure of Savage’s planned for July 1, Zach was looking ahead to the future.
Shortly before his death, Robert and Sherri learned that Zach planned to go to technical school to become an electrician. After taking a placement test, he was on the list for the program, waiting for an opening. He was in the process of moving into an apartment in Austin with some of the friends he made at Texas State University and was applying to work at Austin restaurants, while he waited for a spot in the electrician program, at the time of his injury.
Upon his death, Zach’s organs were donated, a wish he made clear on his driver’s license and to his family years prior.
Sherri recalled having a conversation with her stepson when she found out he was an organ donor. When she asked him about it, surprised, Zach responded, “Well, what am I going to do with them?”
This was very in line for Zach’s character, said Sherri. He was very practical and always thought of others first.
Although this is a kind-hearted trait to have, Robert urged parents to encourage their neurodivergent children to realize that “they are in control of their own destiny.” He emphasized that it is important to push them and guide them in the right direction, while also acknowledging their own wishes.
Details are still being finalized, but Sherri felt compelled to start a long-term fund for burn victims and their families, in honor of Zach and his fight, following their experience in the burn unit.
The family also started a GoFundMe to assist with medical bills, which have already started to come in. Those wishing to donate can visit bit.ly/3GXgCH5.
For Robert, if he could go back and say anything to his son, he would say the same thing he told him every day, “I love you so much. I'm here for you. I've always got your back.”
