Thia Police Let FBI Help In David Carradine’s Case
- David Carradine
Thai police said on Monday that they would like the help of the FBI in investigating the death of actor David Carradine, but only as observers in the case.
Carradine’s body, hanging naked, was discovered last Thursday morning in his luxury suite at Bangkok’s
Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel by a chambermaid. Police first suspected his death was
a suicide, but since then they have said it may have been accidental suffocation
or heart failure after releasing he was found with a rope tied around
his wrist, neck and genitals.
The circumstances suggested he might have died as a result of a dangerous sex act, Pornthip Rojanasunand, a Thai forensic pathologist, said last week.
With the conflicting information surrounding the death, Carradine’s family asked the FBI last Friday for help investigating the case.
“If
the FBI wants to get involved, we will do our best to cooperate,” Thai
police Maj. General Amnuay Nimmano told reporters. “We have
nothing to hide.”
Sirisak Tiyapan, director-general for International Affairs of Thailand’s
Attorney General’s Office, which handle any cooperation with
U.S. law enforcement agencies, said his agency had not received a
request from the FBI to help in the Carradine case yet.
U.S. Embassy Spokesman Michael Turner
said he could not comment on the investigation but did acknowledge that
FBI agents linked to the embassy were talking informally about the
case with their Thai police counterparts.
FBI
spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said earlier that the agency only
gets involved in death investigations overseas if a crime is suspected.
After numerous leaks about the crime scene
and cause of death, Maj. General Amnuay at Monday’s press conference
sought to quash further speculation. He refused to comment on the
condition Carradine’s body was found in or the reports that he died
from the dangerous form of sex play known as auto-erotic asphyxiation.
“The
previous conclusions on the cause of death were made by people who know
nothing about the case,” Amnuay told reporters.
The actor’s family has said they hoped his body would arrive in Los Angeles by Monday, their attorney said, Mark Geragos, but he did not give details.
The family will also seek an private autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden
to determine whether there was foul play in
Carradine’s death, Geragos said. The results from the autopsy performed Friday
in Bangkok were not expected for at least three weeks.
Carradine
flew to Thailand to begin work on a film titled
“Stretch” two days before his death. His friends and co-workers told CNN’s Larry King he had a happy marriage, had recently bought a new car, and had several films ready to shoot after he finished work in Bangkok.
