2 Bodies Found Frozen Inside Restaurant’s Food Locker

The bodies of a woman and man were found frozen in a food locker Saturday at a popular downtown Los Angeles restaurant, authorities said, possibly ending the search for a restaurateur and her boyfriend who disappeared nine months ago.

Los Angeles police declined to comment on the identities of the bodies discovered at Jack’s Placita, a takeout restaurant adjoining the busy Grand Central Market. However, one investigator said autopsies are likely to confirm the dead as restaurant owner Lydia Katash, 40, and her boyfriend, Eli Massalton, 30. The two were last seen alive Jan. 26, shortly before they were to close the establishment at 11 p.m.

When the pair disappeared, they were believed to be carrying $15,000 in cash receipts, Katash’s former husband, Jack Katash, said at the time. The aging car that Katash used for commuting to work was found parked in its usual spot across the street from the restaurant.

The discovery Saturday apparently was made by a restaurant employee. One worker there, who declined to give her name, confirmed the discovery.

Jack Katash, who is listed in the secretary of state’s corporate records as president of Hermis Enterprises, which owns the restaurant at 329 S. Broadway, could not be reached for comment.

Landlord Joseph Hertzberg, contacted in Portland, Ore., said he did not know the Katashes very well and had never talked with Jack Katash about his former wife’s disappearance. “I know that they disappeared under quite mysterious circumstances,” Hertzberg said. “But I really don’t know anything else. It’s surprising to me they wouldn’t have been found previously.”

The Katashes had operated the restaurant for 15 years, until Massalton, Jack Katash’s second cousin, arrived in Los Angeles from Israel about seven years ago. In an earlier interview, Jack Katash said his wife soon become romantically involved with Massalton, with whom she later shared an apartment. Massalton served as her business manager.

At one point, Jack Katash said, she and Massalton disappeared, but later returned. “I hope that’s what it was this time,” he had said.