PHOENIX — The death of Phoenix publicist David Hans Schmidt has officially been ruled a suicide by hanging.
David Boyer, director of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, says a doctor conducted Schmidt’s autopsy Monday morning and had found the cause to be asphyxia.
Phoenix police found Schmidt dead in his Phoenix home on Friday, and released few details about the manner of his death at the time.
The 47-year-old was under house arrest after agreeing last month to plead guilty in a plot to extort more than $1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor’s stolen wedding photos.
Schmidt was free on $100,000 bond but faced up to two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine under a plea agreement filed August 24th in a Los Angeles court.
Schmidt also claimed to have negotiated a “Penthouse” photo spread for Paula Jones — who sued President Clinton for sexual harassment — and to have brokered a deal to sell a video of skater Tonya Harding’s wedding night.
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