The Union County Coroner’s Office is investigating a man found dead in the Marysville White Castle parking lot Wednesday.
According to Lance Emberling, an investigator with the Union County Coroner’s Office, a report came in at 5:30 p.m. about a man who was found unresponsive in a white Honda Accord at White Castle. Emberling said an employee parked next to the Accord and saw the man wasn’t moving. She went into the restaurant and told her manager, who came out and looked in the car.
“They realized he was dead, and they called 911,” Emberling said.
Emberling said the man is Frank Tocci, 55, of Dublin. In watching a surveillance video from White Castle, authorities saw the Accord parked at 8:53 a.m. Tuesday. Emberling said from then until Tocci’s body was found, nobody entered or left the vehicle.
Emberling said he believes Tocci died sometime Tuesday. Officials are unsure what the cause of death was. No drug paraphernalia was found in the vehicle.
Authorities also said the car turned off Wednesday afternoon, likely because it ran out of gas.
“You can see the headlights go off at about (2 p.m.) yesterday,” Emberling said.
There were no signs of trauma on the body, Emberling said. He also noted that Tocci’s body was in the early stages of decomposition, likely hastened by a mixture of the car’s heater and the sun’s rays coming through the windows.
“He had some blistering and stuff like that,” Emberling said.
The coroner’s office is still actively looking into the case. Officials are trying to get video footage from Bob Evans, which they hope will provide a better view inside the car.
Emberling said Tocci’s family has been notified.
“We’ve got some possible leads that we’re tracking down,” Emberling said. “Toxicology’s going to show us a lot on this one.”
Officials said the toxicology report will likely be available in eight to 12 weeks.