A medical examiner who carried out an autopsy on DAVID CARRADINE's body insists the actor did not commit suicide.

The Kill Bill star, 72, was found hanging in the closet of his Bangkok hotel room last month (Jun09). Some local reports suggested he took his own life, while Thai police believe he died accidentally during a dangerous solo sex game involving auto-erotic asphyxiation - where victims achieve heightened sexual pleasure by restricting their air supply.

An autopsy was conducted in Thailand shortly after the actor's death, but his family hired forensic specialist Dr. Michael Baden to re-examine Carradine's body in his native America.

Baden has now revealed details of his findings, which back up his opinion that the star did not take his own life. The medical expert is adamant the way Carradine's body was tied up rules out suicide.

He says, "The cause of death was asphyxiation, an inability to breathe. Now why that happened is still what we're working on.

"He didn't die of natural causes, and he didn't die of suicidal causes from the nature of the ligatures around the body, so that leaves some kind of accidental death."

Baden will release a full report of his findings later this month (Jul09) and is currently awaiting news from the Thai police and security staff at the hotel to help rule out the possibility another person could have been involved in Carradine's death.