IN BANGKOK
1110 hrs, Friday June 5
Have just heard confirmation of some information that we got from police sources last night, but did not report at the time because there was no second confirmation.
Now the Bangkok Post is reporting what we heard, and another source has also confirmed it.
It seems Carradine's body was found inside the wardrobe in his hotel room, with one end of a shoelace tied around his private parts and the other around his neck.
His hands were tied with some sort of cord, which was also tied around his neck, police sources said.
This is possibly the curtain cord we heard about last night.
They said he had been dead at least 12 hours before the body was found.
There were no signs of injuries or a struggle.
Disbelief continues to spread among Carradine's friends, who insist that he was not suicidal - though years ago the actor had confessed in interviews to occasional suicidal thoughts.
In recent years his career has in fact been on an upswing.
11.30pm, Thursday June 4.
Have just returned from trying to chase down the reports which started breaking earlier this evening, of the death of US actor David Carradine in Bangkok.
I have been out with Eric Seldin of Thaicam, on assignment for ABC News. Eric's producer Dave Walker was with us, and happened to know David Winters, a friend of Carradine's.
Winters, 70, has lived in Thailand 14 years.
‘’There’s no way he would have killed himself’’ he said with conviction when we met him at his apartment last night, less than two hours after the news of Carradine’s death broke.
Winters, a producer, director and actor, was part of the original crew of West Side Story, working on the film at the age of 18. In his spacious apartment where every wall is lined with movie posters and memorabilia – including posters of two movies starring David Carradine – there is an original poster from the Broadway production of West Side Story, signed by the entire cast.
Carradine had sent Winters two emails about a month ago while in Taiwan making a movie, he said.
PHOTO: AP
"He loves to work, and he’s very happy when he’s working. He was probably one of the most underrated actors in the world,’’ Winters said. ‘’He was nominated for an Academy award for Bound for Glory. He was a lovely lovely person, he’ll be missed by a lot of people around the world.’’
‘’I heard he was found in the closet, which is very strange. You don’t walk into a closet to kill yourself.’’
Earlier at the Swissotel Nai Lert, we were the first to arrive after the news broke. The hotel security would not let us go up to the room we had heard Carradine had stayed in. The hotel’s general manager said he had heard nothing about the incident, but then said Carradine had checked in a few days ago and had ‘’checked out this morning.’’
He said he could not say anything else out of respect to Carradine's family.