Owen Bowcott
Detectives in Sydney this week ruled out auto-erotic sex games as the cause of rock star Michael Hutchence’s death, but said they were awaiting toxicology tests to determine whether he had taken drugs or alcohol.
As the INXS lead singer’s distraught British fiance, Paula Yates, flew to Australia with their 16-month-old daughter, the mystery surrounding his apparent suicide deepened.
Hutchence, it emerged, was still alive at around 9am on Saturday morning, having telephoned a woman friend nearby. She went to the exclusive Ritz-Carlton Hotel, but her knock was not answered. She pushed a note under the door and left.
Shortly before noon, a maid found Hutchence (378), reportedly naked, in his suite. A leather belt was knotted to the self- closing device at the top of the door. No note had been left but empty alcohol bottles and as many as five different prescription medicines were discovered in the room, including the anti-depressant Prozac. No illegal drugs were removed by police.
The evening before he died, Hutchence had appeared relatively relaxed despite the strain of legal proceedings between Yates and her ex-husband Bob Geldof over the custody of their three children.
That evening, Hutchence met his father and stepmother for a meal, then returned to the hotel for drinks with friends, who left around 2am. Police are looking for two unidentified women seen with him at the hotel’s bar earlier in the evening. Reports that he had left letters with his solicitor in case he suffered a violent death could not be confirmed.
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Australia received the news with incredulity. Grieving fans gathered outside the hotel, bearing candles and cards. “Once again the untimely death of a rock star has posed questions far more complex and emotional than anything he wrote about,” commented the Sydney Morning Herald.