Orange County Coroner

A Cal State Fullerton student who died on a Tijuana street during spring break choked after ingesting a spoiled fruit drink, her father and a private physician said Monday. Earlier reports by the Tijuana coroner's office had indicated that Kavita Chopra, 21, had been felled by cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, possibly brought on by heavy drinking. But Dr. Parvin Syal, a Glendale physician retained by the family to do a tissue analysis, said Monday that he strongly disagrees.

Olympic sprint champion Florence Griffith Joyner died after suffering an epileptic seizure, according to autopsy results released Thursday, and her family and friends say they hope the findings will put to rest rumors that drug use contributed to her death. Griffith Joyner died last month in her sleep at age 38. Her husband, Al Joyner, bitterly criticized those who suggested that she took performance-enhancing drugs.

A long-awaited Orange County report issued Tuesday endorsed the present consolidated operations of the sheriff-coroner's office, just minutes after Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates helped persuade an Assembly committee in Sacramento to kill a bill that would have forced separation of the two offices in heavily populated counties.

The American flag flew at half-staff and corporate offices were closed at the C.J. Segerstrom & Sons headquarters Wednesday as the Segerstrom family mourned the death of 7-year-old Corinne Segerstrom, who was killed Tuesday in an accident on a family lima bean field. The Orange County coroner's office said Corinne, granddaughter of prominent farmer-developer Harold T. Segerstrom Jr., suffered a "blunt force injury to the head" after falling onto a soft patch of dirt that had just been plowed.

When the body was found along a lonely stretch of Coast Highway last May, sheriff's investigators were sure that someone would eventually identify the victim. She had an unmistakable look: bleached-blond hair, a curved spine and a gaping hole in her mouth where four front teeth were missing. "It just seems like someone should be able to identify her," said Lt. Richard Olson of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. More than six months later, nobody has.

A guest at Knott's Berry Farm fell more than 100 feet to her death late Friday night while riding Perilous Plunge, billed by the theme park as having the steepest and highest drop of any water ride in the world. Knott's officials immediately closed the attraction, and state investigators tried Saturday to determine how the accident occurred.

A Los Angeles man surfing at San Onofre State Beach drowned, the Orange County coroner's office determined Sunday. Robert Choy, 44, was pulled from the surf unconscious Saturday morning.

San Diego police collected hair and skin samples in January of a man they now believe has killed five women, but failed to send the evidence to a DNA testing lab until July because of an in-house "mix-up," one of the victim's fathers has told The Times. Willard (Bill) Schultz, father of Tiffany Paige Schultz, said investigators told him the samples were found in the palm of his daughter's hand and should have been sent to an FBI lab for testing by March.

A Lakewood man died Thursday in an apparent drowning off Sunset Beach, south of Seal Beach, Orange County coroner's officials said. Richard Brown, 25, died about 3:30 p.m. at Los Alamitos Medical Center, said a spokesman for the coroner's office. Brown's was the third drowning off Orange County beaches since July 15.

The body of a Garden Grove man who had been missing for four days was found off Seal Beach on Saturday, Orange County coroner's officials said. Ha Pham, 30, was discovered in the water near Seal Beach Boulevard and Bolsa Avenue, near the Naval Weapons Station. He disappeared Tuesday while swimming in Huntington Beach.