The Orange County Register
ALISO VIEJO, CA — An on-duty Orange County sheriff’s investigator was found shot to death in the driver’s seat of an unmarked police car on Wednesday afternoon. It is unclear whether the man was killed or committed suicide.
The veteran investigator’s body was found about 2:30 p.m. in an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria parked in the parking lot of a shopping center in the 26700 block of Aliso Creek Road near Enterprise. Blood covered the front seat. County firefighters were called in and pronounced the man dead.
Initial reports were that the man’s body was found in the trunk, but it was later revealed he was found in the front seat of the car. Initial reports also were that the man was found in a Mercedes-Benz, but those proved erroneous as well.
The Sheriff’s Department is referring all calls to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which is the lead agency investigating the death.
County officials are withholding the deceased investigator’s name until the man’s family has been notified.
Susan Schroeder of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined to say why her office was called in to head the investigation.
District attorney investigators worked into the night Wednesday trying to figure out how the investigator ended up shot to death. A duty bag and a notebook with Orange County Sheriff’s Department written on the front was removed from the car by investigators.
“How this person died is still being investigated,” Schroeder said. “We have no suspects at this time.”
The investigation in to the death is ongoing. More details to follow.
Copyright 2008 The Orange County Register