Police in Southern California are hunting for a suspect who killed a young woman and dumped her body in an alley behind an old movie theater and the restaurant where she worked.
A construction worker discovered 27-year-old Tatum Goodwin’s lifeless body “down in a secluded location” near the 200 block of Ocean Avenue in Laguna Beach around 8:20 a.m. Sunday and called 911,
The Laguna Beach Police Department said that Goodwin’s body showed signs of trauma consistent with homicide.
Detectives found “the scene to be suspicious” and were investigating the death as a homicide.
“We are saddened by this senseless act of violence. Our detectives are working diligently to bring the suspect(s) to justice,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert stated.
The Orange County Coroner’s Division will determine Goodwin’s cause of death.
Goodwin, from San Clemente, had worked as an assistant manager at Carmelita’s restaurant in Laguna Beach for more than 4 years.
“She definitely did not deserve this, just a beautiful person,” Carmelita’s owner Marcos Heredia told the news station KTLA. “It’s affected not only me. It’s affected so much of our team.”
Goodwin’s friend told the outlet that after finishing her shift Saturday night, the 27-year-old headed to the nearby Hennessey’s Tavern.
Her badly battered body was found hours later in the alleyway behind the restaurant where she worked.
“She was just such a loving, honest person,” said another friend, Aleena Macintosh. “You just wouldn’t think that anything would happen to her.”
Heredia has launched a GoFundMe camp to help Goodwin’s family pay for her funeral and also to commission a mural “so everyone in town never forgets about our sweet friend Tatum,” he wrote.
A vigil honoring Goodwin will be held in her hometown of San Clemente Wednesday night.