FBI needs permission to probe Carradine case

Probe will proceed

with or without FBI

Lumpini police chief Pol Colonel Somprasong Yenthuam said he and the investigators could proceed with the probe whether the FBI participates or not.

"Thai police can work together with the FBI. But if the FBI doesn't come, we can still work [on the case]," he added.

An Agence FrancePresse report earlier said Thai police had indicated that they do not need the FBI's assistance. The report also quoted unnamed police sources citing a theory by Thai police and local forensic scientists that autoerotic asphyxiation was the reason behind Carradine's death.

In another AFP report, the FBI confirmed that Carradine's family had asked the bureau  to step in and probe the case. The family also requested noted forensic scientist Michael Baden to assist the FBI.

Mark Geragos, a leading defence lawyer representing Carradine's brother Keith, said the family was looking to interfere with Thai police's investigation because they had not sufficiently been notified of probe details.

The spokesperson of the FBI office in Bangkok, Laura Miller, said the bureau normally conducts a joint investigation of cases abroad only when it involves the murder of American citizens.