Cops Eye Erotic Play In Carradine Death

Actor May Have Suffocated During "Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation"

(CBS/AP)  Mystery remained Friday over the death of American cult actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" and whose naked body was found in a hotel closet in the Thai capital.

Police initially suspected suicide but now believe he may have died from accidental suffocation after finding a rope tied to his neck and genitals.

Celebrity blogs and social networking Web sites were abuzz with news of Carradine's death, which was one of the most popular topics Friday on Twitter, along with the Air France crash.

The circumstances of his death have set gossipmongers working overtime, speculating that the 72-year-old actor may have been engaged in a dangerous form of sex play known as auto-erotic asphyxiation.

The practice involves temporarily cutting off the supply of oxygen to the brain to heighten the effects of a sexual climax.

Carradine's body was discovered Thursday morning in his luxury suite by a chambermaid at Bangkok's Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel, said its general manager, Aurelio Giraudo. Police arrived shortly thereafter.

"When I arrived, I saw the dead body with a string of rope tied around his neck, also tied around his wrist," said Police Colonel Somprasong Yenthuam, Superintendent of Lumpini Police station, which is handling the case.

Another police officer, Lt. Gen. Worapong Chewprecha told reporters that Carradine was found with a rope tied around his genitals and another rope around his neck.

"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."

Somprasong said there was no evidence there was anyone else in the room at the time of Carradine's death.

Police completed an autopsy on Carradine on Friday. But Somprasong said results would not be ready for at least three weeks because the cause of death was unclear. He called the time lag "normal."

A longtime friend of actor David Carradine says it "doesn't make sense" that the star killed himself.

Actor Michael Madsen said on The Early Show Friday depression "wasn't really a part of Carradine's makeup.

Madsen called Carradine's death "kind of shocking." He told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen he "could never have imagined anybody like David, (who) was so full of life and so happy and working (would commit suicide). You figure somebody might do something like that when they're unemployed or destitute. He was working hard and having a good time, and it doesn't make sense."

"I spoke to his wife this morning," Madsen added, "and she really wants everybody to know that David was not suicidal. Certainly, I would have known about something like that. Depression wasn't really a part of his personality. Whatever causes people to have that emotion, he seems to have -- seemed to have gotten over it."

Carradine's body was later taken from the hospital to an undisclosed location by U.S. Embassy representatives while preparations were being made for its repatriation to the United States, expected to be in the next few days. Under U.S. privacy laws, the embassy is not allowed to release further details without permission of the family of the deceased.

Dr. 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 Lt. Teerapop Luanseng had said Thursday that Carradine's body was found "naked, hanging in a closet," and police at that time suspected suicide. However, no suicide note has been found.

Carradine's friends and associates insisted he would never kill himself.

"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."

Pornthip Rojanasunand, director of Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science, said the circumstances suggested that Carradine may have died performing auto-erotic asphyxiation, which is said to result in a form of giddiness and euphoria — similar to alcohol or drug intoxication — that enhances the sexual experience.

"In some cases it can suggest murder, too. But sometimes when the victim is naked and in bondage, it can suggest that the victim is doing it to himself," said Pornthip, who is considered the country's top criminal forensics expert but who did not take part in the autopsy. "If you hang yourself by the neck, you don't need so much pressure to kill yourself. Those who get highly sexually aroused tend to forget this fact."

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 U.S. for Thailand on May 29 to work on "Stretch," his manager Smith said by phone from Beverly Hills.

Monica Donati, a spokesman for the French film company MK2, which was making "Stretch," said in statement from Paris that the film crew in Bangkok was "clearly shocked" by Carradine's death but would finish shooting. Carradine only had three more days of filming left in Bangkok, she said.

"David was apparently very happy about this new role and about filming again," she said.

Hotel manager Giraudo described Carradine as "very much a person full of life" who chatted with the staff.

"He was a great piano player and played a few nights in the hotel lobby," he said, "He also played the flute and the guests really enjoyed it. I mentioned to him that I had seen (the movie) 'Crank' with my family and that was the last smile he gave me."

Carradine, a martial arts practitioner himself, was best known for the U.S. TV series "Kung Fu," which aired in 1972-75. He played Kwai Chang Caine, an orphan who was raised by Shaolin monks and fled China after killing the emperor's nephew in retaliation for the murder of his kung fu master.

Carradine also appeared in more than 100 feature films with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby.

He returned to the top in recent years as the title character in Quentin Tarantino's two-part saga "Kill Bill." Bill, the worldly father figure of a pack of crack assassins, was a shadowy presence in 2003's "Kill Bill — Vol. 1." In that film, one of Bill's former assassins (Uma Thurman) begins a vengeful rampage against her old associates, including Bill.

[apple2pie]

strange and sad ...let him be buried in peace.

[edwinljones]

Any ex-serviceman will tell you that Asians are pain and pleasure experts in sex play. Many men have died as a result of dangerous play. We only hear about the famous ones.

[pepperwood2]

Carradine flew to Thailand last week and began work on a film titled "Stretch" two days before his death. His friends and associates told CNN's Larry King he had a happy marriage, recently bought a new car, and had several films lined up after he finished work in Bangkok.

Maybe this is some kind of Secret Stretch Process derived from the movie that Carradine worked on and all the bugs were'nt quite worked out yet????

[mutnauq4842]

Myself,I hoped to be ten years older than he was & shot by a n irate husband.
Posted by babooph at 6:09 PM : Jun 5, 2009

If you do get shot it will be by the wife for assault with a dead weapon.

[hercule1122]

someone said he was not depressed now! That is a very cogent comment. I did not know him and did not follow his career, so I feel completely free of any prejudice. He really sounds creepy as hell to tie himself up for a sexual high! Who said actors had to be intelligent.

[erb0087]

"Cops Eye Erotic Play"

The police department should not hire such voyeurs.

[apndrgn]

Lucky girl 42 has a good link to the local Bangkok news a couple comments back. Possibly picked an undercover cop as a hooker.

[billpl-2009]

I guess that's the part they left out of the movie....

The "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique" included....tying up your junk

[luckygirl042]

This is all too sad, he was an American cult icon and to have him remembered like this is just wrong. There is a whole lot more to this story, I'm sure.
This article from the Bangkok Post says some different things than the American articles. That he was not hanging, that his hands also were bound and tied to his neck and that there was a footprint that didn't match his shoe, on his bed. Something went horribly wrong, here.

Here is the link.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/17906/kung-fu-star-carradine-dead

I have been a fan of his since the Kung Fu days, and am saddened by his passing.
My heart goes out to the family at this very sad time.

[spiritwalk]

You have to be a sex-obsessed adolescent to be into hanging yourself for a better orgasm.

Posted by erb0087

If it was only adolescents that were sex obsessed they wouldn't be selling old men Viagra at $20 a pop

And how many men have tried and are going to try this after reading this story.

[truth_police]

This three-page article was SUPPOSED TO EXPLAIN how this Auto-Erotic Asphyxia "theory" would apply in this situation. It has utterly and completely failed to explain anything at all. The article states that all of these asphyxiation gratification methods would necessarily have had some sort of safety valve "escape hatch' plan contemplated, since the object is to achieve an ecstatic pleasure experience, not a suicide. But I can not, for the life of me, conceive of what kind of an escape hatch plan there could possibly be in a "hanging" scenario. And this article is completely and utterly useless to anyone who is trying to get answers. What would an investigator look for in order to determine whether this was a "hanging" suicide, or a case of Auto-Erotic Asphyxia? Would he look for a ripcord type of mechanism that was supposed to disengage the hanging rope at some point after it all began? How could anyone hang themselves with a rope, and expect that it would only asphyxiate to the point of getting an ecstatic pleasure experience, WITHOUT causing death? It's something that no one can comprehend. It's like someone jumping off a mile-high cliff and saying, "I didn't intend to kill myself, I just wanted to experience the high that comes from the free falling part of the plummet." It doesn't make any sense. And this article is an utterly useless joke that compounds the confusion.

[cosmicfluke]

I'm tying a rope around my genitals and really getting a kick out of these replies.

[deep_throat]

I met David Carradine a few years ago at a film festival.

The guy was about 6 foot tall and had a presence. He was wearing a suit but with some weird large red woolen scarf draped over it. He had a ****** eruasian girl in her early twenties (40-50 years his junior) hanging on his left arm and a whiskey glass and a cigarette in his right hand. Our conversation was just a handshake and a couple of minutes of chatting about the festival. I noticed he was kinda serious, not smiling much. May be he was drunk or high - who knows. I have to say I found him slightly weird. He was kinda Hugh Hefnerish - hedonistic old bachelor type with gray hair but who still smokes a lot, drinks a lot and has lots of seks with young girls.

Despite my experience, I am still shocked at the way he died.

[JoetheDumbass]

Wow, 72 years old and still doing crazy ****, you gotta admire the guy. I don't understand why he tied up his genitals? That just seems really painful.

[erb0087]

"...speculating that the 72-year-old actor may have been engaged in a dangerous form of sex play known as auto-erotic asphyxiation..."

It's absurd to suggest that someone his age would be doing this. ( Was he into break-dancing too ?)

You have to be a sex-obsessed adolescent to be into hanging yourself for a better orgasm.

I think that death scene was staged.

[aldon62]

David will be missed. I have no idea "how" he died, and that's not material. His family needs our prayers. Rest in peace David!

[stn_sage]

no doubt they had a hidden camera and there is an associated snuff film that will sell for millions a copy on the oriental martial arts patrons circuit.
Posted by apndrgn at 7:47 PM : Jun 5, 2009
=================================
It will be interesting to see, IF some 'snuff film' DID surface in the future! No doubt!

[Bayou123]

I guess I'm more conservative than I thought. People actually do stuff like that? Damn. I guess I'll stick with rebuilding my house. It's safer.

[apndrgn]

no doubt they had a hidden camera and there is an associated snuff film that will sell for millions a copy on the oriental martial arts patrons circuit.

[hereticzero]

I guess he had a few loose ends to tie up?