Comedian and actor Robin Williams did not have alcohol or illicit drugs in his system when he committed suicide on Aug. 11, the final autopsy report released Friday by the Marin County Sheriff's Office shows. But Williams was suffering from depression, anxiety, the early stages of Parkinson's Disease and increasing feelings of compulsion and paranoia, the report states.
Williams, 63, died of "asphyxia due to hanging," at his home in Tiburon, California, as the preliminary autopsy report revealed. The Oscar-winning legend battled addiction for decades but had been sober for many years.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2013, two years after he developed symptoms, such as a left arm tremor and slowing of his left hand's movements. He was taking medication in "therapeutic concentrations" which improved his condition and kept him physically active until his death, the report says.
According to the report, Williams and his wife, Susan Schneider, had been sleeping in separate bedrooms because he was having trouble sleeping. He "would sometimes move around a lot in bed or talk loudly in his sleep," according to the report.
In late June, Williams checked into a retreat facility in Minnesota but "he did not check in for drug or alcohol abuse," his wife told investigators. It had been suggested to Williams that he use the retreat to rejuvenate the principles of his 12-step program and apply them to "facets of his life he was having trouble with," the report states.
The night before Williams died, he had been concerned about a watch collection and put several of them in a sock and drove them to an unidentified person's house, the report states. That behavior exemplified the feeling of paranoia his wife felt was escalating, the report states. But Williams never spoke of suicidal thoughts. Analysis of his iPhone, iPad and laptop revealed no suicide-related searches on the Internet, the report states.
When his wife awoke on Aug. 11, she assumed Williams was sleeping and she went out to run errands. Williams' assistant found his body a few hours later, after becoming concerned for his well-being and breaking into the bedroom. Williams was fully dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, the report states.
The day after the comedy legend died, he was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the San Francisco Bay, his death certificate states.
