Whole Foods employee finds co-worker dead in grocery store bathroom, Georgia cops say
An employee reporting for work at Whole Foods Market found his co-worker dead inside the Georgia grocery store, officials say.
The man made the grim discovery when he was coming in for his shift at a store in Kennesaw, the city’s police department said in an incident report. The business is in a shopping center roughly 25 miles northwest of Atlanta.
The worker went to use the employee bathroom Monday morning but found out it had been locked since the previous day, according to the incident report.
Police say the worker knocked repeatedly before deciding to pick open the lock with a pocket knife.
That’s when he saw his 31-year-old co-worker “slumped over the toilet,” officers said in their report. The woman was “stiff and cold to the touch,” according to the Kennesaw Police Department.
Staff members said the deceased woman, identified as Leslie Kochensparger, had been working at the store for just two weeks, WSB-TV reports.
“This investigation is still on going, we do not suspect foul play and at the moment we are waiting for the medical examiners report for the cause of death,” police spokesperson Scott Luther wrote Wednesday in an email to McClatchy News.
Whole Foods has roughly 500 stores throughout the United States and overseas, according to its website. The chain is known for its natural and organic offerings.
The company in a statement to the Marietta Daily Journal said: “We are grieving the loss of our fellow team member and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.”
Officials closed the Kennesaw store before reopening it Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
This story was originally published January 1, 2020 at 4:02 PM.
