Nov 27, 2006 11:08 pm US/Central
Manager Found Dead In North Suburban Burger King
Police Say Robbery Was The Motive
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov and Katie McCall contributed to this report.
LINDENHURST, Ill. (CBS) ―
An employee of a
Burger King in far north suburban
Lindenhurst came to work early this morning to find her co-worker dead in an office.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports the woman was attacked before. Forty-five-year-old Mary Hutchison was robbed while managing another Burger King a few miles away.
Hutchison's husband said in March she was closing the shop at an Antioch Burger King when she was robbed and beaten at gunpoint. She transferred to the Lindenhurst after that incident and was still undergoing counseling for the first attack.
Police are looking to see if there is a connection between the two incidents.
Monday's shooting happened at a Burger King at Munn Road and Grand Avenue in Lindenhurst.
Hutchison, a wife and mother from Trevor, Wisc., arrived at the restaurant just before 4 a.m. Monday to prepare the inventory as she did once a week.
Police say robbery appears to be the motive for the killing. There was an open safe in the office where the Hutchison's body was found, and whoever did this knew where to find the cash.
The cause of death is not clear and a death investigation is underway, but police say there was blood and evidence of blunt force trauma to the victim's body.
A fellow employee found her body at 5:15 a.m. and called 9-1-1. Hutchison was lying on the floor of her office, but police have not said how she was killed.
Although there was no sign of forced entry and the doors were all locked, investigators have not confirmed that this was an inside job. The store safe was also in that office and cash had been removed.
At this point, investigators are reviewing surveillance video to try to identify the killer or killers. They believe this crime was well planned.
"As horrible as this incident is, it does not necessarily have implications as far as the safety of the community," said Chief Jack McKeever with the Lindenhurst Police Department. "In other words, it's not that we consider this to be a non-focused random crime. The indication is that robbery was the primary motive of this homicide."
The victim had worked at the Burger King since June. Friends of the victim said she was a hard worker.
Customers from a nearby grocery store say Hutchison was a warm and friendly person who was always helpful.
"Everybody from the store knew her we all came here for breakfast from the morning shift, and we will miss her a lot," said customer Abraham Bahena.
"She was actually very nice. She's a very sweet lady. It upsets us very much that she's gone now," said another customer Katelyn Schrambeck.
Hutchison had access to the cash registers and the safe. She arrived here just before 4 a.m. as she did once a week to prepare for business.
Investigators say whoever killed her did so between 4 a.m. and 5:15 a.m.
Her fellow employees knew her schedule, there was no sign of forced entry, and the store was locked when the early shift employee arrived, however police have not confirmed whether this was an inside job.
This was the first murder in Lindenhurst in over nine years.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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