The Salt Hotel

Salar de Uyuni · a February evening · the sky on the ground · Difficulty: Detective 5 · 8×8

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, on a February evening. The rain had turned the salt flat into a mirror of the sky, the jeep tour was back at the hotel built of salt blocks, and dinner was being served. Then Vitaliano, the photographer who had waited all day for the sunset reflection, was found dead. His last picture was never taken.

Rules

Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the wardrobe, the suitcases, the counter, the salt llama, the table, the fireplace, the oven, the flagpoles, the salt piles and the car) cannot be occupied; the beds, the armchair, the sofa, the chairs and the stool can. A corner of an area is a square of it that faces outwards (another area or the edge of the board) on a horizontal and on a vertical side.
Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was a woman” = the person in the row directly above is a woman, in any column.
The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

Amaru (hotel manager): He was in the Lobby. Exactly one row north of him was a woman.
Benita (receptionist): She was not in a corner of her area.
Cusi (housekeeper): She was the only woman beside a bed.
Dionisio (cook): He was not beside the car. A chair was somewhere in his column.
Eusebia (salt-flat tour guide): She was not in the Lobby.
Fortunato (jeep driver of the tour): He was not in a corner of his area. A suitcase was somewhere in his row.
Gualberta (backpacker): The counter was somewhere in her column.
Vitaliano (travel photographer): The victim. He was found in the Dining Room, beside the fireplace – alone with the murderer.

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