Police: Carradine's Death Likely Sex Accident

Was the mysterious death of David Carradine caused by auto-erotic asphyxia? There is renewed attention on a practice that is one of the greatest and most dangerous sexual taboos.

Auto-erotic asphyxia is the practice of cutting off one's air supply to heighten sexual pleasure. David Carradine was found by a chamber maid at Bangkok's Park Nai Lert Hotel naked and dead, slumped in a closet with cords bound and connecting his neck and his genitals, Bangkok police said. Los Angeles Superior Court documents of Carradine's divorce show that his most recent ex-wife, Marina Anderson, accused the actor of "deviant sexual behavior which was potentially deadly." The alleged behavior wasn't described in the court documents. Also known as hypoxyphilia, the practice is a sub-category of sexual masochism that involves reducing the oxygen supply to the brain while masturbating to achieve a heightened orgasm. "There's a fine line between the state of hypoxia [lack of oxygen in the brain] and death, and it's in that state that a person becomes highly aroused and it's what allows them to orgasm," said Eli Coleman, chair of the sexual health department at the University of Minnesota. "People usually have safety nets and no intention to die, but something often goes wrong in their calculation," he told ABCNews.com. "Maybe a stool or something they are standing on somehow slips away." The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates there are between 500 and 1,000 such deaths in the United States annually, mostly among young men. Many more may be falsely ruled as homicides or suicides. Auto-erotic asphyxia often starts in adolescence, which is why many of the deaths associated with the practice are among young adults. But the practice is not unknown among girls, according to Coleman. Because it is practiced alone, AEA is particularly dangerous. It is a compulsive activity that can also escalate, as may have been the case with Carradine, said Coleman. "We know very little about the people who practice this," he said. "Most of what we know is from those that have accidentally died." Few who seek help because of the shame, which fuels a cycle of guilt, anxiety and then release.