Whole Foods employee found dead inside store restroom, police search for answers

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    KENNESAW, GA (WGCL) — Employees at the Whole Foods in Kennesaw are in shock after finding their co-worker, 31-year-old Leslie Kochensparger, dead inside the employee restroom Monday morning.

The woman was discovered after an employee tried repeatedly to use the single-person employee restroom but couldn’t enter because the door was locked. Another employee told him the door had been locked since Sunday and no one had been able to get in.

When the employee picked the lock, they found Kochensparger slumped over, deceased.

Kennesaw police say they have obvious answer as to what killed the woman.

“There is nothing as far as signs of foul play,” said officer Scott Luther with the City of Kennesaw Police. “There was no signs of drug use or needles. There was no signs of suicide. There was no signs of anything that would cause us to think that she passed away a certain way over another,” Luther added.

He says the police department is waiting on autopsy and toxicology reports from the medical examiner’s office.

Kochensparger’s stepfather, Timothy Moore said the family was in shock and heartbroken. He spoke to CBS46’s Hayley Mason by phone.

“She was working everyday,” Moore said. “She was doing okay. She was staying with us at the time during Christmas.”

He says Leslie worked in customer service at Whole Foods. She started right before Thanksgiving. Moore said she loved going to work and loved her coworkers.

“I’ve known her since she was a teenager,” Moore said. “She was always funny, vivacious, she loved other people. She took her friendships very seriously and she was a wonderful daughter, a wonderful granddaughter. She’s irreplaceable and always will be.”

Moore said the love and support they are receiving from friends and the community is sustaining them through their grief.

The Whole Foods Market sent CBS46 a statement saying, “We are grieving the loss of our fellow team member and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time.”

Officer Luther told CBS46 that police have reviewed surveillance video at the Whole Foods and still don’t have definitive answers.

Moore lived with her family in Decatur. She was born in Cincinnati and attended high school at St. Pius X in Atlanta.

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