LA - Woman's body found in Arby's walk-in freezer is restaurant's manager- New Iberia, 11 May 2023

[ifindedout]

Investigator tells News 15: Body found in New Iberia Arby's freezer was woman manager, death likely an accident

NEW IBERIA, Louisiana (KADN/KLAF) -- A body found in a walk-in freezer at an Arby's in New Iberia was that of a woman who managed the fast food restaurant and

www.kadn.com

The gruesome discovery happened Thursday evening during regular business hours at the Arby's located at 1120 E. Admiral Doyle Drive in New Iberia's Lagniappe Village shopping center.

“So it was an employee that discovered the female deceased inside the cooler, (and) the deceased is an employee of the restaurant,” New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told News 15 in an exclusive interview at the scene.

The victim's identity wasn't immediately released by Laseter, citing the "on-going investigation," but he confirmed the woman was a manager.

While police called the case a "suspicious death," the investigator told News 15 that initial indications are "no foul play" was involved.

 

[borndem]

Could she have been unable to open the door of the freezer to exit? Did she slip and hit her head in there, or did something fall on her head that may have made her unconscious?
Sad situation, no matter how it happened.

 

[airportwoman]

Industrial freezers are supposed to have an easy-to-open latch, one that can be felt in the dark if the light goes out. I learned this more than 40 years ago, with my first restaurant job.

It's also possible that she had some kind of medical incident in the freezer, maybe when she was alone in the store.

 

[Ebon]

Dead Body Found Inside Freezer at Arby's Restaurant in Louisiana

New Iberia police said the body is that of a female employee who worked at the restaurant

people.com

Police are investigating the death of a female restaurant employee, whose body was discovered in the freezer of an Arby's in Louisiana this week.

Another employee of the New Iberia restaurant, located about 130 miles west of New Orleans, found the body inside the freezer at about 6:30 p.m. local time on Thursday night., authorities said.

Despite initially calling the death "suspicious," according to KLFY TV, New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told KADN TV in Lafayette that he believes it could be accidental.

 

[ifindedout]

Industrial freezers are supposed to have an easy-to-open latch, one that can be felt in the dark if the light goes out. I learned this more than 40 years ago, with my first restaurant job.

Once when I worked in a supermarket (same vintage as above), one of the walk-in fridges there had a lever on the outside, but a knob on the inside that you would push to exit back into the storeroom if the door was closed. However, in this instance, the knob was bent (presumably by a pallet load on a jack) and it wouldn't work. Fortunately, we were expected to keep fridge and freezer doors ajar whenever anyone was inside, and never to close them without first checking if anyone was in there. Lighting was fluorescent.

 

[Marysmith]

She must have been in there for awhile if she froze, not had a medical incident. Maybe it was busy as it was supper time and no one went in for awhile? I hope she didn’t freeze to death - that would be awful…

 

[airportwoman]

Someone on a prominent social media website posted that restaurant's job opening list. If that's for real, that's really disrespectful. At least wait until, like, after her funeral.

 

[Teche]

Dead Body Found Inside Freezer at Arby's Restaurant in Louisiana

New Iberia police said the body is that of a female employee who worked at the restaurant

people.com

Police are investigating the death of a female restaurant employee, whose body was discovered in the freezer of an Arby's in Louisiana this week.

Another employee of the New Iberia restaurant, located about 130 miles west of New Orleans, found the body inside the freezer at about 6:30 p.m. local time on Thursday night., authorities said.

Despite initially calling the death "suspicious," according to KLFY TV, New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told KADN TV in Lafayette that he believes it could be accidental.

New Iberia is about 20-30 minutes from Lafayette, LA. Apparently, not all commercial freezers have an inside release handle to prevent someone from being locked in.

 

[musicaljoke]

New Iberia is about 20-30 minutes from Lafayette, LA. Apparently, not all commercial freezers have an inside release handle to prevent someone from being locked in.

It's very hard to believe that there could be a single walk in freezer left on the planet that doesn't have an inside handle, or an entrapment alarm or both.

It is unforgivable that anyone could be locked in a freezer.

 

[arielilane]

Body found in Arby's freezer, police say

A woman’s body was found inside a freezer at an Arby’s restaurant in New Iberia, Louisiana, Friday evening.

lawandcrime.com

It’s unclear how long the woman was in the freezer for. Police say they will not be releasing her identification at this time.

 

[airportwoman]

My first job was at Perkins, more than 40 years ago, and as a 14-year-old busser, I once found myself locked in the freezer and didn't know about the inside release. I was beating furiously on the door, and one of the cooks heard me and let me out.

It did not have a pin like the freezer in "The Shining," either.

 

[lonewanderer]

For those of you asking how this could happen, there was the case of Kenneka Jenkins, also.

Kenneka Jenkins death: Tuesday marked 2 years since woman found dead in Rosemont hotel freezer

Tuesday marked two years since the death of a young woman found dead inside a Rosemont hotel freezer.

abc7chicago.com

 

[Marysmith]

For those of you asking how this could happen, there was the case of Kenneka Jenkins, also.

Kenneka Jenkins death: Tuesday marked 2 years since woman found dead in Rosemont hotel freezer

Tuesday marked two years since the death of a young woman found dead inside a Rosemont hotel freezer.

abc7chicago.com

Brutal. What a horrible way to die!

 

[arielilane]

Fast food freezer mystery. Police say the death of a woman whose body was found in a freezer at an Arby's in Louisiana does not seem like a homicide. So how did she die?

Dead Body Found Inside Freezer at Arby's Restaurant in Louisiana

https://twitter.com/x/status/1658095639572430848

https://twitter.com/DiscoveryID

Dead Body Found Inside Freezer at Arby's Restaurant in Louisiana

New Iberia police said the body is that of a female employee who worked at the restaurant

people.com

5/12/2023

Police are investigating the death of a female restaurant employee, whose body was discovered in the freezer of an Arby's in Louisiana this week.


Another employee of the New Iberia restaurant, located about 130 miles west of New Orleans, found the body inside the freezer at about 6:30 p.m. local time on Thursday night., authorities said.


Despite initially calling the death "suspicious," according to KLFY TV, New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told KADN TV in Lafayette that he believes it could be accidental.


"A situation like this is unusual, so we're taking extra precautions during the investigation," Laseter told the station. "[We] pretty much have completed our process at the crime scene. After completely processing the crime scene... this does not seem like a homicide, it seems like an accident."

 

[arielilane]

Employee found dead inside Arby’s freezer identified

The employee of an Arby’s in Louisiana who was found dead in the restaurant’s freezer has been identified.

www.wlox.com

5/17/2023

Her body was found inside the restaurant’s walk-in freezer around 6:20 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to KFLY, Le was the manager. Police said foul play is not suspected.

After completely processing the scene, New Iberia Police Capt. Leland Laseter told KADN that the death “does not seem like a homicide, it seems like an accident.”

Officers interviewed employees of the restaurant as part of the initial investigation.

A cause of death has not yet been determined, but an autopsy is underway, officials said.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

I wonder how long she was in there. When was her last shift worked in relation to when she was found? The next day? People would be needing to access that freezer daily I am assuming.

 

[Tyra1003]

This Arbys is literally down the street from me. It’s never busy. Usually one worker at a time.

Family of employee who was found dead in Arby's freezer file suit

The family of the woman who was found dead in the freezer of the New Iberia Arby's is planning to file suit. Alleging her death could have been prevented.

www.katc.com

 

[evilwise]

My first assumption in this one would have been suicide but I'm obviously not on scene and the police are. I'll be curious to read the details when they come out. I have second person experience with a manager killing themselves at work and I've had first person experience with people doing drugs in the walk-ins so accidental overdose would also be something I could imagine.

Contrary to the trope, I have never personally known of anyone to get accidentally locked in a freezer which is the sort of scenario I would expect the family to sue over. For the body to have been discovered in the morning makes me assume the store was closed or someone would have probably noticed it being open all night?

 

[bombardier]

For the body to have been discovered in the morning makes me assume the store was closed or someone would have probably noticed it being open all night?

The body was found at 6:30 PM, not am, which makes it all the more weirder. You would assume workers would be using it semi-regularly during the day.
edit- just read that she was working alone that day. How is that possible, doing cash drive thru cooking etc all by herself?

 

[10ofRods]

It's very hard to believe that there could be a single walk in freezer left on the planet that doesn't have an inside handle, or an entrapment alarm or both.

It is unforgivable that anyone could be locked in a freezer.

I think it's still possible in some places. Code enforcement and restaurant inspection is very uneven in the US, IMO.