An autopsy on Robert Maxwell performed just hours before he was buried disclosed that the late press baron had suffered serious injuries to his head, left shoulder, abdomen and spinal chord and concluded that he did not die from drowning, a French magazine reported Thursday.
The weekly Paris Match published photographs of Maxwell's body taken during a four-hour autopsy.Maxwell, 68, disappeared from his yacht off the Canary Islands on Nov. 5, shortly before his communications empire collapsed.
Prof. Louis Roche, former president of the International Academy of Science, told Paris Match Maxwell could have died "either from a fall following a collapse or a malaise or from a blow to the face leading to a fall and a loss of consciousness."
"It is highly probable that the victim was struck by a violent blow to the back of the skull, no doubt with the aid of a blunt instrument," remarked Prof. Loic Le Ribault, the second expert consulted by Paris Match.