US actor David Carradine’s death `abnormal’: Forensic experts

BANGKOK - Thai forensic experts Friday characterised the death of US actor David Carradine, whose body was found in his hotel closet the previous day, as “abnormal”.

“David Carradine’s death was an unusual one,” said Nanthana Sirisap, head of the autopsy division at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital that examined the actor’s body.

“The case is abnormal,” he said, without elaborating.

The body of Carradine, 72, who first shot to fame in the 1970s “Kung Fu” television series, was found 11 a.m. Thursday in the closet of his suite at the five-star Swisshotel Park Nai Lert Hotel.

Carradine was in Bangkok shooting the film “Stretch”. Colleagues became concerned when he failed to show up for a dinner Wednesday night and they could not reach him by telephone in his room.

A hotel maid found his body, described as half-naked, in the closet when cleaning his room.

Police initially said there were no signs of assault and they suspected suicide, but the details surrounding the manner of his death have yet to be officially revealed.

Carradine recently starred in Quentin Tarantino’s two-part movie “Kill Bill”. His first major role was as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV drama series “Kung Fu”.

Speaking in the US, a representative for Carradine insisted that his death was accidental.

“We can confirm 100 percent that he never would have committed suicide,” the spokesman told celebrity website TMZ.com. “It was an accidental death. Everybody is in shock.”