Man’s body found in shopping cart outside grocery store

A man’s decomposing body covered in wounds has been discovered wrapped in a plastic sheet and dumped inside a shopping cart near a California supermarket.

The grim discovery was made after 4 p.m. Sunday outside of the Food Maxx grocery store on Martin Luther King Jr. Pkwy. in Chico, a city located about 80 miles north of Sacramento.

A passerby called 911 to report that a person seen inside the cart appeared to be dead.

Police officers found the cart near the front of the business containing a man’s body wrapped in a large white plastic sheet, according to the Chico Police Department.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Cops said the unidentified adult male had suffered visible injuries, prompting them to launch a homicide investigation. 

Detective Lieutenant Brian Miller, with the Chico PD, told the station Action News Now that the cart containing the body had likely been in front of the supermarket for several days.

Miller also said that investigators have obtained surveillance footage showing a possible suspect moving the cart.

“We were able to see some movement. We were able to see a shopping cart, a suspect, and the decedent moving on the sidewalk here,” said Miller.

Cops were back on the scene Monday taking samples of suspicious stains on the ground outside the grocery store based on the shopping cart’s path, as seen in the surveillance footage.

An autopsy will be performed on the victim to determine his cause and manner of death.

As of Wednesday, no additional information has been released on the man in the cart, and no suspect has been named.