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Cops Won’t Question Mary-Kate About Ledger

By CBS/AP

Authorities Say Actor Was Already Dead When Masseuse Called The "Full House" Star. Cops Won’t Question Mary-Kate About Ledger

Published: Fri, January 25, 2008 - 12:11 pm Last Updated: Fri, January 25, 2008 - 12:16 pm

(CBS/AP) As Heath Ledger's family made funeral arrangements for the actor, the NYPD denied a report Friday that they want to interview Mary-Kate Olsen in connection with calls she received from the masseuse who found his lifeless body.

On Thursday, police released a detailed timeline of the calls that were made by Ledger's masseuse on Tuesday afternoon, after he couldn't be roused for a scheduled massage. Police said the masseuse spent nine minutes making three calls to Olsen before she dialed 911 for help. The masseuse called Olsen a fourth time after paramedics arrived. The details about the calls do not have any significant bearing on the investigation because authorities believe Ledger was dead at that point and they have ruled out foul play.

Also Friday, a few onlookers and a large crowd of journalists gathered outside the funeral home where Ledger's family was expected later in the day.

Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said no details about the actor's funeral would be shared with the press.

Ledger's family placed a death notice that appeared Friday in The West Australian, a newspaper based in his hometown of Perth, remembering him as "the most amazing 'old soul' in a young man's body."

"As a close knit and very private family we have observed you so determined yet quietly traveling in your self-styled path in life, nothing would get in your way ... no mountain too tall, no river too wide," said the notice, which the newspaper said had been submitted by Ledger's relatives. ".... Our hearts are broken."
Authorities believe Ledger was already dead while his masseuse was dialing Olsen, with the first three calls ranging from 21 seconds to more than a minute and a half.

The cause of death will not be answered for at least a week, after medical examiners complete toxicology tests. Authorities suspect a possible overdose, but nothing conclusive has been determined. Several prescription drugs were found in the Manhattan apartment where Ledger's body was found.

Police originally said the masseuse made two calls seeking Olsen's advice about what to do, but they revised it to four after taking a closer look at Ledger's phone records. The masseuse, Diana Wolozin, apparently knew both Ledger and Olsen and knew they were friends; all the calls were made from Ledger's cell phone, police said.

At 1 p.m. Tuesday, Ledger's housekeeper went into his bedroom to change a light bulb, saw him sleeping and heard what she thought was snoring. The masseuse showed up for Ledger's massage appointment at about 2:45 p.m., knocked on his door and called his cell phone at 3 p.m. to wake him up., police said.

After setting up her massage table, she tried to wake Ledger and realized something was wrong.

That was when events took a strange turn.

At 3:17 p.m., she made a call to the Olsen twin that lasted 49 seconds. At 3:20 p.m., she made another call, lasting 1 minute and 39 seconds. At 3:24 p.m., another call to Olsen. That one lasted 21 seconds.

Then, at 3:26 p.m., Wolozin called 911.

At some point during the frenzy, Olsen, who was in California, summoned her personal security guards to the apartment to help with the situation, the New York Police Department said.

Paramedics arrived at 3:33 p.m. and actually went up in the elevator to the apartment with Olsen's security guards. Paramedics did not allow the security guards into the bedroom where Ledger died, and they declared him dead at 3:36 p.m. - 19 minutes after the first call to Olsen.

The masseuse called Olsen a final time at 3:34 p.m. The duration of that call was unknown.

The death prompted rumors that Ledger may have been depressed and taking too many pills. Haydn and Mike Ledger, two of the actor's uncles, deflected a question from a CBS The Early Show interviewer Thursday about whether their nephew had been depressed, saying that should be left to his parents to address.

"We have fond and loving memories of a very loving, gentle trickster," Mike Ledger told The Early Show. "It was his vibrance and personality that really got people together. And that certainly was a trait that he took later on in life into his career."

Ledger told The New York Times in November that his recent work on the films "The Dark Knight" and "I'm Not There" had been stressful, and that he was struggling with sleeplessness and had taken the sleeping pill Ambien.

Ledger received an Oscar nomination for his role as a gay cowboy in 2005's "Brokeback Mountain," one of several acclaimed for the actor in recent years. He plays the Joker in the Batman flick "The Dark Knight," set to come out later this year.

Before moving to Manhattan, Ledger lived with then-girlfriend Michelle Williams in a Brooklyn brownstone with a black wrought-iron fence. Ledger split last year with Williams, who played his wife in "Brokeback." The two had a daughter, 2-year-old Matilda.

Mike Ledger told The Early Show that being a father meant everything to the young actor.

"We know that Heath would have wanted to be with her forever," the actor's uncle said.

Williams and Matilda returned to their Brooklyn home Wednesday evening from Sweden. The 27-year-old actress had been there shooting scenes for the upcoming film "Mammoth," said Martin Stromberg, a spokesman for film production company Memfis Film.

Makeshift tributes and memorials continued to pile up Thursday in front of Ledger's apartment building, including candles, handwritten notes and more than 100 bouquets.