June 29, 2009 3:43 PM
- Text
Heart Attack Likely In Pitchman's Death
(AP)
A Florida medical examiner says television pitchman Billy Mays likely died of a heart attack but further tests are needed.
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Monday the boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking Oxiclean suffered from hypertensive heart disease. He was found dead Sunday in his Tampa home. A day earlier he bumped his head during a rough landing on a commercial airliner, but Adams says there was no evidence of head trauma.
He says Mays was taking the prescription painkillers Tramadol and hydrocodone for hip pain. But Adams says there was no indication of drug abuse, and pill counts showed Mays had been taking the correct amount of the drugs.
Meanwhile, a frantic woman tells emergency operators she found the television pitchman cold and unresponsive on 911 tapes released by authorities in Florida.
On emergency tapes released Monday, a woman said she found Mays cold to the touch after waking up. The caller, who isn't identified, says his lips are purple and that he isn't breathing.
When asked what had happened, she says she doesn't know.
A second person who got on the phone tells the operator that Mays is dead.
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Monday the boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking Oxiclean suffered from hypertensive heart disease. He was found dead Sunday in his Tampa home. A day earlier he bumped his head during a rough landing on a commercial airliner, but Adams says there was no evidence of head trauma.
He says Mays was taking the prescription painkillers Tramadol and hydrocodone for hip pain. But Adams says there was no indication of drug abuse, and pill counts showed Mays had been taking the correct amount of the drugs.
Meanwhile, a frantic woman tells emergency operators she found the television pitchman cold and unresponsive on 911 tapes released by authorities in Florida.
On emergency tapes released Monday, a woman said she found Mays cold to the touch after waking up. The caller, who isn't identified, says his lips are purple and that he isn't breathing.
When asked what had happened, she says she doesn't know.
A second person who got on the phone tells the operator that Mays is dead.
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