Coroner: Valium, alcohol killed painter Kinkade

Coroner: Valium, alcohol killed painter Kinkade

SAN FRANCISCO — Artist Thomas Kinkade died from an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, but his heart had grown so enlarged he had been vulnerable to a fatal heart attack at any point, according to a detailed autopsy report released Tuesday.

The self-described “Painter of Light” died April 6 of an acute combination of ethanol and Diazepam intoxication, or in common terms, of alcohol and the tranquilizer marketed as Valium, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said.

The 54-year-old Kinkade’s sentimental scenes of country gardens and pastoral landscapes led to a commercial empire of franchised galleries, reproduced artwork and spin-off products that was said to fetch some $100 million a year in sales.

In recent years, however, he had run into personal difficulties, including a 2010 bankruptcy filing by one of his companies and an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence that same year outside Carmel.

Kinkade’s companion found him in the bed they shared at his Monte Sereno home, four hours after he was last known to be alive, said Joseph O’Hara, Santa Clara County’s lead medical examiner. Some of his fingernails still held a residue of green paint, and his toenails were polished a glittery gold, the autopsy report said.

O’Hara described the 6-foot, 254-pound Kinkade as mildly obese and noted he suffered from systemic hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

“His heart was so big that at any time he was vulnerable,” O’Hara said. “Apparently he had given up drinking and maybe he had just started again. His levels were definitely in the toxic range.”

Several other drugs, including two other prescription tranquilizers, were present in his bloodstream. Kinkade’s urine contained gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, which occurs naturally in the human body but can also be used as the so-called date rape drug.

O’Hara said the painter also had suffered several remote blunt force injuries.

“He had a bruise of his abdomen that was healing, a bruise under his scalp, a hemorrhage under his head, as well as multiple healed rib fractures,” O’Hara said. “He took a tumble at some point.”

O’Hara said he could not release further details about the circumstances in which Kinkade was found or the activities leading to his death, given the pending investigation.

By local and wire sources