David Carradine, age 72, starred in over 100 movies, but may be best remembered as the star of the 1972-1975 TV series "Kung Fu," or perhaps his lead role in the 2003/2004 movies "Kill Bill (vols. 1 & 2)." A hotel maid found Carradine dead in his Bangkok hotel room this past Thursday, allegedly with ropes around his wrist, neck and genitals.

To most police homicide investigators, finding someone naked and bound and hanging in the way Carradine was allegedly found would suggest an accidental autoerotic death, one where the victim purposely cut off his oxygen supply as a way to increase his sexual pleasure, thereby causing an alleged heightened sensation that some believe to be exhilarating. Asphyxiation occurs when the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange is halted and the body is deprived of life giving oxygen. Many who engage in this risky business take themselves right to the edge of passing out, and then release the strangle hold they have on their neck, usually in the form of some type of ligature they can manipulate or loosen at the last second. Some, however, misjudge the point at which to release, resulting in their death. The most common method is neck compression by hanging or strangulation, with studies suggesting that the average age for someone to participate in this dangerous activity is around 26, although there are both younger and older victims.

As indicated, these types of fatalities are usually caused by someone engaged in a solitary sexual act that can include bondage and asphyxia and, according to another study, between 500 and 1,000 people die this way every year in the U.S. For police investigators, deaths are looked at in one of four ways: natural causes; suicide, accident, or homicide. A maid found Michael Hutchence - 37, the former lead singer of the rock group INXS, dead in his Sydney, Australia hotel room in November 1997. He was nude at the time of his death and the Coroner of New South Wales ruled his death a suicide, while others believe the belt used to hang him was actually used by Hutchence in the course of an autoerotic act that went bad.

At least two of David Carradine's five former wives have indicated he had some unusual sexual preferences, to include bondage. One former wife reportedly spoke of his taste for "potentially deadly sex and incest," while another allegedly said she would often walk into a room where he had tied himself up. A reporter from an online tabloid site called me Sunday night and pressed me to agree that Carradine's cause of death could have been murder. I said investigators might logically be able to rule out death by natural causes, this due to the condition the body was found in, (although someone could experience a heart attack due to an autoerotic act – still an accident?) And were investigators able to rule out suicide, they would be left with two likely causes of death: an accidental autoerotic death, or, in the unlikely extreme, a homicide staged to look like an accidental autoerotic death. While the reporter indicated she had possession of a picture of Carradine's limp body with his hands tied above his head with rope, his body hanging from a clothes bar in a closet, such stories are, unfortunately, the fodder for these types of magazines. As a former FBI profiler, our unit saw other autoerotic deaths that occurred in a similar manner, and both family members and investigators alike have been shocked to find victims who succumbed to such a form of death.

To be a homicide, though, the "killer" would need to have had a motive to kill Carradine, as well as personal information concerning his sexual proclivities in order to "stage" the crime scene, plus private access to him in order to carry out such a crime. Investigators will rely on evidence gathered at the crime scene, the results of one or both autopsies, the victim's known profile and activities, and his known sexual history, to include prior incidents of bondage. While the tabloids, and perhaps Carradine's family may advocate the homicide theory, right now it appears Carradine had both the background and the personal experience that would lead investigators to find his death due to an accidental autoerotic experience.

At least one Thai tabloid newspaper, perhaps to be followed by American tabloids, has published one or more crime scene photos of Carradine's body, photos believed to have been taken by Thai police forensic specialists and then, perhaps, sold to the tabloids. Carradine's family has requested the FBI intervene in the investigation, but since he died in a foreign country, the FBI would have no automatic investigative jurisdiction unless they were invited and or authorized to participate by Thai police, with whom, of course, they liaise on a regular basis. If it appeared the death was not related to a crime against the victim U.S. citizen, it is unlikely that the FBI would "normally" be part of such an investigation.

While the initial autopsy in Thailand could likely suggest that Carradine died from causes other than a homicide, a second autopsy will be conducted on his body upon its return to Los Angeles from Bangkok. As Carradine was staying in an upscale hotel, police were able to review surveillance camera footage of those entering and leaving the hotel in general, and, apparently, Carradine's hotel room in particular. Neither the surveillance videos nor hotel personnel were apparently able to suggest that anyone, i.e., a potential killer, was in Carradine's hotel room at the believed time of his death. Some close the the former movie star have suggested that he was "assassinated" while attempting to expose a secret underworld martial arts group, something one of his former wives denied any knowledge of. She did, though, talk about his history of potentially deadly kinky sex acts. While the grief experienced by his family is understandable and their desire to report that his death was due to natural causes or even homicide is equally understandable, he was a Hollywood star and for such, few things are private, especially if the tabloids get a hold of the story or the pictures.

Although many see the answer to reducing the number of deaths due to accidental autoerotic incidents to be education, i.e., learning how dangerous such activities can be, others are quick to point out such deaths that have occurred after the victim was advised about such seemingly bizarre activities. For some, the danger and the promised sexual high are apparently worth the risk. For others, unfortunately, the erotic promises sealed their doom.