Suicide ruled out in death of David Carradine
Last Updated: Thursday, July 2, 2009 | 11:35 AM ET
CBC News
Actor David Carradine poses at the 60th annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Century City, Calif., on Jan. 26, 2008. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)David Carradine died of asphyxiation, according to the doctor who oversaw a private autopsy on the Kung Fu star.
Dr. Michael Baden said the bindings around the actor's body allowed him to rule out suicide as a cause of death.
Carradine, 72, was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel room on June 4.
Baden, a New York forensic pathologist hired by Carradine's family to conduct an investigation, said his full determination of how Carradine died will not be ready for at least a week.
"The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe. Now why that happened is still what we're working on," he said.
"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," he told Reuters.
Baden, who performed the autopsy in the U.S. after the body was released by Thai authorities, said Carradine's hands were tied over his head at the time of the death.
He said he is waiting for information from Thai police about security video and pass keys from the hotel to rule out whether any other person was involved in Carradine's death.
Carradine was part of an acting dynasty that included his father, John Carradine, and brothers Bruce, Keith and Robert.
He had parts in Kill Bill, Dangerous Curves and The Long Goodbye, as well as the role of Kwai Chang Caine in the Kung Fu TV series of the 1970s.
