The body of US actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been caused by accidental suffocation, Thai police said yesterday.
The 72-year-old actor's body was discovered on Thursday in his luxury suite at Bangkok's Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Police initially said they suspected suicide, but Carradine's associates had questioned that theory.
Police Lieutenant General Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope tied around his genitals and another rope around his neck.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The two ropes were tied together,” he said. “It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not, or he died of suffocation or heart failure.”
Thai police completed an autopsy on Carradine yesterday. But police Colonel Somprasong Yenthuam, superintendent of the Lumpini police station, which is handling the case, said results would not be ready for at least three weeks because the cause of death was unclear. He called the time lag “normal.”
Nanthana Sirisap, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital's Autopsy Center, told reporters that the autopsy was conducted because of the “unusual circumstances surrounding Carradine's death,” but did not elaborate.
Police Lieutenant Teerapop Luanseng said on Thursday that Carradine's body was found “naked, hanging in a closet,” and that police at the time suspected suicide.
But one of Carradine's managers dismissed the theory.
“All we can say is, we know David would never have committed suicide,” said Tiffany Smith of Binder & Associates, his management company. “We're just waiting for them to finish the investigation and find out what really happened. He really appreciated everything life has to give ... and that's not something David would ever do to himself.”
Carradine had flown to Thailand last week and began work on a film titled Stretch two days before his death, Smith said. He had several other projects lined up after the action film, which was being directed by Charles De Meaux.
Carradine was in good spirits when he left the US for Thailand on May 29 to work on Stretch, Smith said.
“David was excited to do it and excited to be a part of it,” she said by telephone from Beverly Hills.
Filming began on Tuesday, she said, adding that the crew was devastated by Carradine's death and did not wish to speak publicly about it for the time being.
Aurelio Giraudo, the hotel's general manager, said Carradine checked into the hotel on Sunday and he last saw him on Wednesday. He said Carradine chatted with staff and even played piano a few nights in the lobby.
“I was a fan. I had a very nice talk with him when he checked in,” Giraudo said. “He was very much a person full of life.”
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