Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room after a humiliating World Cup loss to Ireland and police are investigating it as murder.
Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his hotel room in Jamaica on Sunday by hotel staff after his team's defeat to Ireland on St. Patrick's Day sealed Pakistan's ouster from the tournament. He was later declared dead at a hospital.
Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said in a statement late on Thursday that a pathologist report found Woolmer's death was due to "asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation."
Police launched a homicide investigation and were reviewing security cameras at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel and urging witnesses to come forward.
"It is our belief that those associated with or having access with Mr. Woolmer may have vital information to assist this inquiry," Thomas said in the statement.
There was no evidence of forced entry, police said.
Deputy police commissioner Mark Shields said police were investigating if more than one person could have been involved.
"Because Bob was a large man, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him, but of course at this stage we do not know how many people were in the room," he told a news conference on Thursday night. "It could be one or more people involved in this murder."
Shields declined to comment when asked about local media reports describing the condition of Woolmer's body. "There are some issues surrounding marks on his body, but for the moment I would rather we stick to the cause of death, which is asphyxia," he said.
No arrests have been made and there were no suspects in the case, police said.
Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Jamil Mir said the players were shocked by the news Woolmer had been killed.
"I've spoken to the chairman and he's totally devastated. He can't believe it. He's very, very distressed. The team is distressed. Everybody is absolutely in a state of shock," he said.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan's cricketers were fingerprinted and interviewed by police, then allowed to travel across the island to Montego Bay. Mir said that the Pakistan players had not been singled out for fingerprinting.
Outspoken former Pakistani player Sarfraz Nawaz speculated that gambling interests had it in for Woolmer because he was going to expose them in a book.
The coach's widow earlier said it was possible an irate fan might have killed her husband.
"Some of the cricketing fraternity, fans, are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game," Gill Woolmer said on Thursday in an interview from South Africa with Britain's Sky TV.
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Pakistanis express shock at finding on Woolmer's death
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