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The
demands of working in a kitchen can be physically strenuous and mentally
exhausting. Every now and then, that pressure can boil over, causing
unthinkable tragedy. Other times, there are things that occur in life
that just can’t be explained. The following is a list of 10 chefs who
died tragically on the job.
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A Bloody Mess
In September 2012, 46-year-old Stephan Stolze, a chef at Steamer’s
Restaurant in Key Largo, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and walked
into the dining area. In front of his coworkers, Stolze raised the knife
to the right side of his neck and slashed his throat.Bleeding profusely,
Stolze ran to his apartment, which was located above the restaurant.
Meanwhile, the restaurant’s employees—frantic and confused—mopped up the
bloody scene as guests began to arrive for dinner. Robin Schaupp, the
restaurant’s manager, was in a meeting when the incident occurred. As
soon as she was notified, she raced upstairs to find Stolze lying dead
on the ground.Stolze’s coworkers claimed that he had become depressed
after breaking up with his girlfriend and that he wanted to move back to
his home country of Germany. However, on the advice of his father,
Stolze remained in Key Largo because Germany didn’t have many job
opportunities. |
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Suspicious Circumstances
In July 2015, a man identified only as Rohit was working as a chef at
Fidahh Restaurant, which is located at the Epicura Mall in New Delhi,
India. On July 10, Rohit informed his family that he had decided to quit
his job and was going to collect his money from Navdeep Singh, the
restaurant’s owner.The following day, Rohit’s dead body was discovered
in the restaurant’s kitchen. According to reports, Rohit had slept in
the kitchen overnight with two other employees. The report goes on to
state that Rohit and the other two men had been drinking the night
before and that Rohit had passed out in an inebriated state.However,
officials stated that the death of the man was suspicious. A New Delhi
court charged the owner with murder. He was also charged with causing
the disappearance of evidence that was connected to the death of the
chef. |
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Decapitated Cobra
In August 2014, Chinese chef Peng Fan was preparing a meal for diners in
his restaurant. The specialty for the day was snake soup with an
Indochinese spitting cobra as the main ingredient.Fan chopped the head
off the cobra, cut up the meat, and began the stew. Twenty minutes
later, he went to discard the head. As Fan picked up the cobra’s
decapitated head, it bit him on the hand.Suddenly, screams began echoing
from the kitchen, causing commotion in the restaurant and diners to
discard their food. The venom that entered Fan’s hand killed him before
emergency personnel arrived. But how could such a thing happen when the
reptile has been killed?Dr. Matthew Lewin, director of California
Academy of Sciences’ Center for Exploration and Travel Health,
explained, “Unlike humans, snake tissue can withstand long periods
without circulating blood. The tissue doesn’t lose function as quickly
as a mammal and the reflexes remain intact.” |
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Toxic Fumes
In the recent years, China has waged war against corporations that
illegally dump hazardous toxins into the environment, causing “cancer
villages” throughout the country. Police in China discovered that
factories were dumping their waste into drainpipes under the supervision
of a parking lot operator. Records show that more than 3,400 tons of
toxic waste had been dumped in a particular area within a nine-month
period.Unfortunately, the region of the dumping was located next to a
Chinese restaurant. This led to the release of poisonous gases from the
restaurant’s kitchen drain, ultimately killing the restaurant’s owner
and chef. The death sparked an investigation. Ultimately, 27 suspects
and 20 factories were implicated in the illegal dumping. |
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Scott McLeod
Scott McLeod, 41, was a successful top chef who had worked in some of
the finest Latin restaurants in Philadelphia. He had received numerous
accolades for his spin on Latin cuisine, including two bells from The
Inquirer’s Craig LaBan. On a personal level, McLeod was described as
being very friendly. He was also a workout fanatic who was covered in
tattoos. On a Sunday evening in March 2015, McLeod was working as the
executive chef at Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia’s old city neighborhood.
That night during dinner service hours, McLeod was found unresponsive in
a locked bathroom of the restaurant.Emergency personnel were called by
frantic coworkers, and McLeod was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately,
the executive chef could not be revived and was pronounced dead a short
time later.Following an autopsy, the coroner reported that the
41-year-old had succumbed to heart disease, a condition perhaps
overlooked in a physically active man in his early forties.
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Brown’s Chicken And Pasta Massacre
To pursue the American dream, 46-year-old Guadalupe Maldonado moved his
wife and three children to Chicago from Mexico. In Chicago, he worked as
a cook at Brown’s Chicken & Pasta restaurant.Although he wasn’t making a
lot of money, he loved his job and the opportunity to give his family a
better life. Like clockwork, Maldonado was always home by 10:00 PM. So
when 1:30 AM rolled around one day with no word from him, his family
became extremely concerned. On that cold January night in 1993, two men
had walked into the restaurant shortly before closing time at 9:00 PM.
Moments later, a robbery ensued. Lynn Ehlenfeldt, 49, was ordered to
open the safe.After doing so, she was told to turn around. Then her
throat was slashed. Another employee tried to make a run for it but was
shot in the back and killed. The remaining five employees, including
Maldonado, were ordered into the freezer and executed. The case went
unsolved for nine years until police arrested Juan Luna and James
Degorski with the help of DNA evidence. Luna and Degorski were convicted
and sentenced to life in prison.
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