Dead Body Found In Arby's Restaurant Freezer Identified As Manager

The body of a woman employee was discovered inside a walk-in freezer at an Arby's restaurant in New Iberia, Louisiana, Thursday.

The deceased employee was identified as the manager of the restaurant located at 1120 E. Admiral Doyle Drive in New Iberia's Lagniappe Village shopping center, the lead homicide investigator told News 15.

The woman's body was found by another employee at the establishment at around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

"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 the local outlet at the scene.

The identity of the deceased was not released, with investigations currently ongoing.

It is not yet known how long the body had been in the freezer. However, investigators said the woman's death appears to be an accident.

"A situation like this is unusual, so we're taking extra precautions during the investigation. (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," the head of the New Iberia Police Department's criminal investigations division explained.

But Laseter said that those findings were preliminary and that "nothing is set in stone yet" as the death "remains under investigation."

An autopsy is set to be conducted to confirm the victim's cause of death and identity.

Some employees of the Arby's location were interviewed as part of the initial probe, and there could be further interviews in the coming days, according to the investigator.

"We're going to re-examine all the evidence tomorrow and they're going to conduct an autopsy to give us the cause and manner of death. So there are a few more steps that we need to take before a (final) determination is made," the police captain said.

Arby's confirmed in a statement to Today that the owner of the franchise location was cooperating with the investigation.

"We are aware of the incident that took place at our franchised location in New Iberia, LA," the statement said. The franchisee is cooperating fully with local authorities as they conduct their investigation. Due to this being an active investigation, we defer any further comment to the police department."