Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Official Cause Of Death Revealed
Authorities have confirmed the official cause of death for Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died Sunday in Costa Rica while swimming at Playa Grande in Cahuita, a village in the province of Limón. Warner, who famously played Theodore Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” was 54.
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) confirmed Tuesday to People that an autopsy completed earlier that day showed Warner died from accidental asphyxiation by submersion. This confirmed prior claims from local police ahead of an official autopsy.
“The body will be removed from the Judicial Morgue by a funeral service company hired and authorized by Mr. Warner’s family,” the OIJ told People in a statement.
The Costa Rican Red Cross revealed in a statement Tuesday to The Hollywood Reporter that first responders were notified Sunday at around 2:10 p.m. of two male swimmers in need of emergency medical treatment due to a “water-related incident” at Playa Grande.
Paramedics reportedly revived one of the swimmers, while Warner was pronounced dead.
“The victim appears to have entered the sea and was apparently swept away by a current,” the OIJ wrote in a statement Monday, per People. “The man was rescued by bystanders and taken to shore, where he received treatment from the Costa Rican Red Cross.”
“However, he was declared lifeless at the scene,” the agency concluded.
Warner’s death, which reportedly occurred during a family vacation, sparked tributes from friends, peers and former colleagues. Tracee Ellis Ross, who played his wife in the 2011 BET sitcom “Read Between the Lines,” said Warner “made the world a brighter place.”
His “TV dad” Bill Cosby, who was accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women and spent nearly three years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2021, mourned Warner in a phone interview Tuesday with CBS.
“He was never afraid to go to his room and study,” Cosby told reporter Jericka Duncan about Warner’s work ethic as a child actor on “The Cosby Show.” “He knew his lines and that he was quite comfortable even with the growing pains of being a teenager.”
Warner is survived by one daughter, whose name he never publicly shared.