Autopsy on body of French academic Richard Descoings “inconclusive”

GlobalPost

An autopsy on the body of the French academic Richard Descoings who found dead in a New York hotel room on Tuesday was inconclusive.

Bloomberg reports the medical examiner's office as saying that tissue and toxicology tests will be needed to determine the cause of the 53-year-old's death.  DNA Info explains that it could take weeks for the results to be processed.

Descoings, who was Director of the prestigious Institute of Political Studies in Paris, was discovered dead in his room at Manhattan’s Michelangelo Hotel at about 1 pm.

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The New York Daily News says investigators initially treated the death as suspicious because he was found naked, and his cell and laptop computer phone appeared to have been thrown out the window.  However, the newspaper says there is no fresh evidence to suggest he was murdered and quoted detectives as saying he may have accidentally overdosed on alcohol and anti-depressants.

Associated Press says it had also received reports that empty alcohol bottles and prescription medication were discovered in the room with Descoings.

Police have also ruled out the possibility that he was robbed,and say disorder in the room was caused by the paramedics that tried to resuscitate him, Reuters says.

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