Pathologist: David Carradine Died of Asphyxiation

Wed., Jul. 1, 2009 7:15 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

It's still unclear what David Carradine was doing when he died, but a doctor knows what technically killed him.

Having already ruled out suicide by hanging, the private pathologist hired by Carradine's family to perform a second autopsy has determined that the 72-year-old actor died of asphyxiation.

How he came to asphyxiate is still anyone's guess.

A maid found Carradine hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel room on June 4, and it was soon confirmed by various officials that a rope was tied to his neck and genitals, prompting speculation that the former Kung Fu star had been engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation.

Judging by the way Carradine was bound with his hands above his head, Dr. Michael Baden concluded that the Kill Bill villain did not take his own life and requested security footage and pass-key data from Carradine's hotel to further probe whether or not someone was in the room with the actor when he died.

Stressing that these were still only preliminary findings, Baden said that his full report will not be ready for at least a week.