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'Pulp Fiction' Film Editor Found Dead In Griffith Park

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oscar-nominated film editor Sally JoAnne Menke was found dead Tuesday along a Hollywood Hills trail where she went hiking during a record Southern California heat wave.

The body of Menke, 56, was discovered at 2:15 a.m. in rugged Beachwood Canyon on the west side of Griffith Park, assistant coroner Ed Winter said. Her black Labrador retriever was standing near the body.

Menke went for a hike with the dog Monday morning and didn't return. Her locked car was located in a Griffith Park parking lot.

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A friend organized a foot and horseback search, then contacted police at 6 p.m. when she couldn't be found. Search dogs, a police helicopter, Hollywood Division officers and the Fire Department's urban search and rescue squad participated in the search.

The cause of death hasn't been determined, but Winter says there is no sign of foul play. He wouldn't disclose any details or speculate that record heat -- it was 113 degrees in Los Angeles on Monday -- may have been a factor in her death.

Menke, the daughter-in-law of famed cellist Aldo Simoes Parisot, edited every Quentin Tarantino film from "Reservoir Dogs" in 1992 to last year's "Inglourious Basterds," which earned her an Academy Award nomination.

Menke's other film credits include "Death Proof" (2007), "Grindhouse" (2007), "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" (2004), "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" (2003), "Daddy and Them" (2001), "D.C. Smalls" (2001), "All the Pretty Horses" (2000), "Jackie Brown" (1997), "Nightwatch" (1997), "Mulholland Falls" (1996), "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" (1991).

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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