La Mirada In-N-Out worker beaten to death, coroner says

LA MIRADA — A longtime In-N-Out Burger employee found dead in a parking lot near the fast food eatery was beaten to death and not shot.

Sheriff’s officials initially said 48-year-old Josefina Alcocer-Estrada of Buena Park suffered an apparent gunshot wound to the upper torso. Further investigation and the Feb. 28 autopsy revealed Alcocer-Estrada died of blunt force trauma, according to Ed Winter, assistant chief of investigation and operations for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner - Coroner.

Lt. Steve Jauch of the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said detectives don’t know the motive right now and no one has been arrested.

He said Alcocer-Estrada was working in the kitchen of the In-N-Out Burger at 14341 Firestone Blvd. around 4:30 a.m. Friday. There were other employees at the store, he added.

She later went outside.

Shortly before 5 a.m., Jauch said an employee at another business saw Alcocer-Estrada lying in the parking lot and called 911. A co-worker also saw the body.

“A fellow employee saw her out there before deputies arrived,” Jauch said.

Detectives have interviewed Alcocer-Estrada’s husband who Jauch described as cooperative. He said investigators also reviewed surveillance video but declined to discuss if the video yielded any leads.

In-N-Out Burger officials said Alcocer-Estrada has been an employee since 1996 and was one of the original associates at the La Mirada store.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477, or text “TIPLA” plus the tip to 274637, or use the website lacrimestoppers.org.

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