A Hard Life--and a Violent Death : Crime: Danette Garrett was on the rebound from a troubled marriage when she was found shot to death in Seal Beach.

For Danette Garrett, a 33-year-old native Californian, this quiet beach town framed by a sprawling retirement community and a wildlife refuge was an ideal setting to recuperate from the troubled marriage she left behind in Florida.

But a few months into her emotional recovery, the cashier was found shot to death in an apparent robbery at an Arco gas station tucked along Pacific Coast Highway, authorities said.

The first killing in Seal Beach this year has stumped police and scared residents, many of whom have papered downtown with flyers and photos of Garrett seeking information about the killer.

Seal Beach detectives say they have few leads and are hoping that fingerprints found in an upstairs office where the body was discovered early March 12 will provide some clue. A $25,000 reward offered by the Atlantic Richfield Co. for information leading to the assailant has yielded few tips.

“There’s just no reason to kill somebody in this type of a robbery,” said Detective Darrell Hardin, who would not disclose how much money was taken.

Garrett’s slaying came only a few months after she moved back to Southern California to escape her past, said police and friends. Last summer, Garrett filed a complaint with authorities in Florida, alleging physical abuse against her estranged husband, police said.

Garrett did not have any children from her marriage, which ended with her moving into shelter for abused women in Clearwater, Fla., police and friends said.

She quit her job at a Florida Arco station and loaded her ’86 Pontiac last fall for a cross-country trip.

In California, Garrett found a night job as a cashier at the Seal Beach Arco station and sold burgers during the day at a Jack-In-The-Box down the street.

“She was holding down two jobs trying to make ends meet,” said Curtis Thorington, 59, of Garden Grove, a lifelong friend. “She never did have it easy. She’s had a hard life.”

After her marriage failed, Garrett’s focus turned to putting her life in order and caring for her diabetic mother, Joann White, said Sue Thorington, Curtis’ husband. At the time of her death, Garrett was staying with a childhood friend in Long Beach and trying to save up money to get her own place closer to work.

White had moved with her daughter from California to Florida and then back to California again.

On her days off, Garrett often would take her mother to the grocery store, the doctor’s office or a friend’s house.

“She was constantly doing stuff for her mom,” said Sue Thorington, 55. “She is very giving, very compassionate.”

Garrett spent most of her childhood without a father, who moved out when her baby brother, Troy, was born, Sue Thorington said. The family lived in Long Beach and Garrett’s mother struggled to rear the two children as her health deteriorated.

“There was never enough money,” Sue Thorington said, “and her mother was sick off and on throughout her whole childhood.”

White declined to be interviewed for this story.

A high school graduate who made a stab at college but did not receive a diploma, Garrett held a variety of jobs, including cutting doughnuts, waiting tables, working as a cashier.

When she died, the 5-foot-8 woman with curly red hair was earning minimum wage as cashier at the burger franchise. Her salary at the gas station was not disclosed.

“She was the sort of person you could always trust,” said Marilen Arenas, manager at Jack-In-The-Box, where Garrett had been working since October. “She’s usually on time, and when she’s five minutes late, she would call and tell you.”

Investigators said they found Garrett, wearing blue sweat pants and a denim jacket, lying face down in a pool of blood about two hours before she was scheduled to get off work at 7 a.m.

A newspaper carrier became suspicious after arriving to find the lights off and the front door ajar at 4:55 a.m., and called police.

“She always kept that door locked,” Detective Hardin said. “She was very careful.”

A passerby reported seeing the lights on at 4:15 a.m, when he had intended to buy gas, but drove off when he couldn’t find anyone to help him, police said. An autopsy pegged the time of death as between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m.

The killing has left many residents concerned for their safety in a city that has a population of about 26,000 and averages one homicide per year, police said.

City Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe said the slaying left a mixture of grief and anxiety hovering over the city. “We no longer live in a society where we can leave the back door open to go run an errand,” Forsythe said. “However, we don’t need to be locking ourselves up by any means.”

Jim Caviola, an Seal Beach attorney, went before the council the day after the shooting to ask for a police substation in the downtown area. Caviola, 39, said the city “is a gorgeous place to live” and he would like to keep it that way.