Burned Body Victim May Have Had Local Connections

A man whose body was found burned on the side of the street in Altadena on April 15 may have a connection to the local area, according to court and property records.

After 10 days of going unidentified, the County Department of Coroner released the name of the person who was found, reporting him as a 70-year-old named "Emmitt Zinn," born in 1942.

Coroner's officials have said they have no address or town listed for Zinn, and believe he may have been homeless.

While a search of court and property records did not return any listings for "Emmitt Zinn" an Altadena Patch search did result in records for "Emmett Zinn" and "Emmett Beasley Zinn" with connections to Pasadena and elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

County court records show an "Emmett Zinn" born in 1942 has multiple vehicle code violations, including driving with a suspended license, and also a conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia in 1999.  The court records also show several dropped cases for drug possession.

Additionally, the Pasadena Star-News reports that an anonymous source has identified "Emmitt Zinn" as also going by the name "Emmett" and lists his deceased mother as "Cora Beasley."

On Windsor Avenue, where Zinn's body was found, memorials and flowers placed at the scene include one card addressed to "Emmett."

A trust representing Cora Beasley and Emmett Zinn are also listed as selling a home on Topeka Street in Pasadena in 1997.

The same records search source for Emmett Zinn does not show a current address, though court records do show a vehicle code violation conviction for Zinn in March and Sheriff's Department records show an arrest in the same month.  

A records search also shows previous addresses in Riverside, Louisville, Kentucky, and Atlanta, GA. 

The Star-News story also has additional claims about Zinn's background based on an anonymous source.  

Zinn's body was found in the early hours of Sunday April 15 on the side of the road in the 2600 block of Windsor Avenue.  Media reports have stated that his ankles and a wrist were bound, but the Coroner's Department has not confirmed that to Patch.

His cause of death has not been identified: investigators do not know whether his body was burned after he was killed or not.  The department is conducting a series of tests to attempt to figure out the cause of death: .

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