Examiner rules David Carradine 'did not commit suicide'
Examiner rules David Carradine 'did not commit suicide'
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Thursday, 02, Jul 2009 05:20
By Lewis Bazley.
Kill Bill actor David Carradine did not commit suicide, according to a medical examiner who oversaw a private autopsy this week.
The 72-year-old was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room closet last month, with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.
Unnamed police sources had been quoted as saying Carradine was found hanged and suicide was the likely cause of death, but forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden has now ruled the actor died from asphyxiation.
"He didn't die of natural causes, and he didn't die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death," Dr Baden told the Reuters news agency.
Dr Baden, who fronts the HBO television show Autopsy and was hired by the Carradine family to conduct a second autopsy, said the way in which the actor's body was bound allowed him to rule out suicide as the cause of death
It had been claimed Carradine may have died as a result of accidental autoerotic asphyxiation, a possibility Dr Baden did not dismiss.
The pathologist also revealed Carradine's hands were above his head when his body was found, rather than tied behind his back as had been previously reported.
Dr Baden explained he is awaiting more information from Thai police before ruling out the possibility the Kung Fu star was killed by someone else, and added he wanted to view security data from the hotel in which Carradine was found to ensure the actor was alone in the room when he died.
Carradine was best known for starring as Kwai Chang Caine in 1970s TV series Kung Fu, the tales of a Shaolin monk travelling through the American Old West in search of his half-brother.
He earned newfound fame and a Golden Globe nomination when director Quentin Tarantino cast him as the titular Bill in Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2 in 2003 and 2004.