David Carradine's Cause of Death Was Unusual. How Did He Die?
The famed Carradine acting family has dealt with tragedy before. Before Revenge of the Nerds star Robert Carradine died of suicide at age 71, his half-brother David Carradine passed away in strange circumstances in a Thai hotel room.
David Carradine's cause of death was under dispute at first, and his tragic death led to Robert's mental health struggles and a bipolar disorder diagnosis. His family spoke candidly about that illness in a statement following his February 24.
Before Robert's tragic ending, though, came the bizarre circumstances of David's death. David and Robert Carradine were among actor John Carradine's five kids. Their brother Bruce Carradine died in 2016 at the age of 83. The final two sons, Keith and Christopher Carradine, are still alive. The family's patriarch, John Carradine, died of natural causes at age 82.
David Carradine's Cause of Death May Have Been Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation
In 2009, actor David Carradine was found deceased in a hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand. He had a "cord wrapped around his neck and genitals," according to ABC News.
"The two ropes were tied together," Police Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha initially told ABC News. "It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not or he died of suffocation or heart failure."
An official said that David may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, described by ABC News as "the practice of cutting off one's air supply to heighten sexual pleasure." He was in Thailand filming the movie, Stretch. After two autopsies, officials eventually ruled that Carradine died of "accidental asphyxiation, ABC News reported.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, David died at Bangkok’s Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel. Police "initially said they suspected suicide, though Carradine’s associates had questioned that theory," THR reported, noting that "authorities later said no suicide note was found in his room."
"All we can say is, we know David would never have committed suicide,” said Tiffany Smith of Binder & Associates, his management company, to THR. “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.”
An Expert Hired by David Carradine's Family Does Not Believe He Died of Suicide
(Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)
The Carradine family hired Dr. Michael Baden to examine David's death.
"The autopsy findings and the evidence thus far available demonstrate that Mr. Carradine's death was not the result of suicide," Baden said, according to NPR. "However, to reach a final determination as to the cause and the manner of death we must wait for further information from Thailand as to the scene findings and the completion of the crime laboratory and toxicology studies that are still being performed."
Baden later told The Guardian that "his report was consistent with the findings of the Thai doctor who performed the first autopsy, who also said Carradine had died from asphyxiation." However, Baden said he couldn't determine whether the death was murder or an accident.
Police "later conceded" that his death might have been accidental, not suicide, The Guardian reported. The family expressed outrage after a Thai publication published an alleged death scene photo.
The following year, ABC News reported that "authorities ruled that Carradine had accidentally suffocated in a lone sex practice known as autoerotic asphyxiation," adding that Carradine's ex-wife wrote in a book that she had suspicions about his death.
"For David to accidentally do it to himself, that's not the act," his fourth wife Marina Anderson said, according to ABC News. "He never flew solo when we were together. That didn't fit the scenario. David liked participation." However, she acknowledged he was into "bondage."
According to ABC, "At the time, Carradine family attorney Mark Geragos blamed the death on a mysterious sect of secret kung fu assassins."