EchoBlog

TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS, NOV. 8 -- Lawyers for the family of British publisher Robert Maxwell today called the initial findings of a Spanish autopsy insufficient and said they will investigate the circumstances of Maxwell's death, including the possibilities of foul play or an accident.

"Every avenue will be explored . . . all hypotheses are being considered," said Paris-based attorney Samuel Pisar. When asked if this included murder, Pisar responded, "I assume everything."

The preliminary results of an autopsy on Maxwell, who apparently fell overboard from his luxury yacht before dawn Tuesday, attributed his death to heart and lung failure. A Spanish judge overseeing the case, Luis Gutierrez Sanjuan, said the results point "to a natural death before Maxwell fell into the sea."

The autopsy findings were issued by Spanish officials more speedily than usual, enabling Maxwell's body to be flown to Jerusalem early today and to arrive there before the start of the Jewish Sabbath, Pisar said. Maxwell is to be given a state funeral Sunday. A final, more detailed autopsy report, which awaits laboratory analysis of samples of Maxwell's vital organs, will not be ready before next week.

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The major questions for both Maxwell's family and their lawyers rest on three issues: Why did the 68-year-old publisher, who had no previous heart problems, suffer heart failure? How did he end up in the Atlantic as his yacht cruised through the night? And which came first: the heart failure or the fall overboard?

While the final autopsy results may help answer the first question, they may offer few or no clues about the last two. Autopsies can often expose telling details about the circumstances surrounding a person's death, but in many cases the truth can only be fully known through an investigation requiring the kind of work done by criminal detectives.

A hindrance to such probing in this case is that none of the 11 crew members aboard Maxwell's 170-foot yacht, Lady Ghislaine, is believed to have witnessed his fall overboard or his heart failure.

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Both Pisar and a local Spanish attorney for the family, Julio Hernandez Claveri, said they have heard nothing so far to suspect foul play by any of the crew aboard when Maxwell toppled into the sea. And they both denied, as did Maxwell's widow Thursday, that any private investigation into Maxwell's death had begun.

The two lawyers both noted that the initial autopsy findings did not cite the reasons for or timing of Maxwell's heart failure.

"It says only his heart stopped," said Claveri. "But what caused that? An accident? When falling?" And, apparently challenging Gutierrez's statement, Claveri asked, "Was {the heart failure} before or after the body was in the water?"

The death could be construed as accidental if Maxwell's heart failed after he fell into the sea; the shock of such a fall could cause heart failure.

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The British Press Association, citing insurance sources, reported this week that Maxwell carried a 20 million pound, or $35 million, life insurance policy, but he may not have been covered under this policy for death due to natural causes.

Pisar said Maxwell had "several life insurance policies . . . including {ones covering} accidents." When asked if he also carried policies that covered death by natural causes, Pisar said, "I think so, yes."

Maxwell's family and their lawyers have all said the family is satisfied with how the Spanish authorities have handled the case so far.

But one source familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified, said he believed the family may be seeking to have the final autopsy report leave open the possibility that Maxwell's death was accidental, rather than from natural causes.

"I think they want to change something in the final autopsy report," the source said. "They want them to say that {heart failure} is a possibility, and that there could be another possibility, such as an accident."

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