David Carradine's Rumored Murder (2009)

Hollywood is renowned for its liberalism; still, the no-holds-barred entertainment business deems some topics taboo. David Carradine's rumored murder in 2009 shone a gruesome spotlight on hitherto taboo subjects of extreme sexual behaviors. While filming a film in Bangkok, the 72-year-old veteran of the 1970s television drama "Kung Fu" was discovered dead, dangling from a thread in his hotel room closet.

Despite his wife's protestations to the contrary, reporters and law enforcement first thought that Carradine committed suicide. However, further research showed that the rope encircling Carradine's throat was also attached to his genitals, implying that he died of autoerotic asphyxiation, the technique of restricting air flow to improve a sexual experience.

Marina Anderson, Carradine's ex-wife, publicly affirmed that he had participated in "deviant" and "possibly lethal" sexual activity, bolstering the autoerotic asphyxiation theory. The controversy about David Carradine's rumored murder intensified when a Bangkok newspaper released gruesome images of Carradine's corpse hanging in a closet. While the circumstances behind Carradine's death remain unknown, the tragedy thrust sexual deviance, which is generally prohibited in popular settings, to the front of the societal awareness.