Expert: No foul play in Bourdain death
Toxicology tests underway to see if famed chef had drugs in his system
PARIS — There’s no evidence of foul play or violence in celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s death in a French hotel room, a French prosecutor said Saturday.
The famed cook, writer and host of the CNN series “Parts Unknown” killed himself Friday in a luxury hotel in the ancient village of Kaysersberg, Christian de Rocquigny, the prosecutor of Colmar in France’s eastern Alsace region, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Rocquigny said there did not appear to be much planning in the television personality’s suicide.
“There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment,” he said, adding that a medical expert had concluded that there were no signs of violence on Bourdain’s body.
Rocquigny said toxicology tests were being carried out on Bourdain’s body, including urine tests, to see if the 61-yearold American took any medications or other drugs, in an effort to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.
Bourdain filmed a segment of his show this week at the Michelin-starred Auberge d l’Ill in nearby Illhaeusern, where staff are reeling from his death.
“You actually don’t really believe it. You think it’s probably a fake,” the restaurant’s sommelier, Herve Fleuriel, told The AP, recalling “that great Chef who was here on Wednesday lunch.”
It was one of his last meals. Fleuriel described to the AP what Bourdain ate — goose liver, frog’s legs, fish and pigeon — and a lively exchange Bourdain had with close friend chef Eric Ripert about the wine and food and how to pair them.
“They looked like they were pretty happy.”