David Carradine's Death Possible Sex Act Gone Wrong, Thai Officials Say

The "mysterious circumstances" that have surrounded the death of David Carradine in Bangkok Thursday may not be so mysterious after all. According to MSNBC, Thailand law enforcement officials announced Friday that the length of drapery cord that apparently caused the death of the 72-year-old actor was tied around his neck and his genitals, leading them to believe that the actor had not actually meant to kill himself but had died as a result of accidental asphyxiation due to an act of auto-erotocism known as hypoxyphilia.

Hypoxyphilia is the enjoyment of an act of constricting oxygen to the brain in order to achieve a more intense orgasm during sex. People can reach a hypoxyphilic state through various means of cutting off one's air supply, regardless of whether or not it is done with a partner or alone (auto-erotic).

According to Thai authorities, David Carradine was drinking all day the day before he was found hanging in his hotel room closet. Given the outcry amongst friends and family after his body was found, his state of mind did not seem to indicate that he was in any way suicidal. Some began to believe that he may have been murdered and his body staged to look like a suicide.

The police ruled out foul play at the outset. It also looks as if Thai officials were attempting to be discreet as well, at first only issuing a report that the cord was found wrapped around Carradine's neck and body.

But with all the intense scrutiny, the speculations about murder, the insinuations that the Thai police may have been covering up or simply not doing a very good job, authorities may have felt that discretion should be sacrificed in the name of professional appearances and to divert subsequent investigations into David Carradine's "mysterious" death.

Most of Carradine's friends and family did not believe that Carradine was suicidal, so the news might come as a relief at the same moment they are attempting to deal with the grief of his passing. Of course, with the stigma that is attached to auto-erotic asphyxiation (and hypoxyphilia), the news might again be a mixed blessing.

But auto-eroticism is not isolated. Masturbation is a form of auto-erotic behavior. Auto-erotic asphyxiation is not rare, either. Dr. John Hunsaker, a former Kentucky medical examiner who studied the sexual behavior, told MSNBC that every county in the United States records a case of death due to auto-erotic asphyxiation each year.

And most people who die from auto-erotic asphyxiation do so because of an unintended miscalculation. In order to achieve hypoxyphilic ecstasy, the victim usually has a failsafe that simply fails them: tying a knot that can easily be loosened, a pull mechanism attached to their wrist to loosen a constriction. In David Carradine's case, his heightened blood alcohol content may have helped cause his death. Alcohol constricts the flow of oxygen to the brain also, putting one closer to a state of unconsciousness. Carradine may have simply made an unfortunate miscalculation with his auto-erotic rigging.

David Carradine's body being found in a hotel room also sparked many on the internet to connect his death with that of ex-InXS lead singer, Michael Hutchence, who was found in a hotel room in 1997 under very similar circumstances. His wife still insists that Michael Hutchence did not commit suicide (which remains the official ruling) and that he was a victim of accidental asphyxiation due to an auto-erotic accident.

So David Carradine's death does not now look to have been suicide after all, although police have not totally ruled the possibility out. But it certainly does not appear to be murder. It appears to have been an unfortunate accident.

Regardless of how the talented star of "Kung Fu" and "Kill Bill" died, it is nonetheless a tragic loss.

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Source:

MSNBC.com