The county sheriff’s department announced Wednesday that the Guido’s kitchen worker found dead outside the restaurant Sunday evening died of an upper respiratory infection. They also identified the man’s name as Carlos Rodas, and said it appears no criminal conduct was related to his death.
Early Monday morning, hours after Rodas was found and pronounced dead on the scene, the department put out a press release that stated Rodas had been beaten to death by an unidentified group of assailants.
But Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Steve Whitmore backtracked from that report Monday afternoon, saying Rodas may have died of natural causes. Ed Winter, Assistant Chief Corner at the county coroner’s office, told The Malibu Times he did not know why the sheriff’s deputies issued the report indicating foul play was involved, except he had heard that there was a significant amount of blood found by Rodas’s body.
An autopsy was scheduled to be performed Wednesday by the coroner’s office, but the autopsy results had not been released when the sheriff’s department issued its press release.