Police set up
barricades outside a funeral home Friday as Heath Ledger's
family made arrangements to claim the body of the
28-year-old Brokeback Mountain actor.
A private viewing
was scheduled for Friday at the Frank E. Campbell
funeral home in Manhattan, and Ledger's family was flying to
the United States from his native Australia.
On Thursday,
police released a detailed timeline of the calls made by
Ledger's masseuse on Tuesday afternoon, after he could not
be roused for a scheduled massage.
Police said the
masseuse spent nine minutes making three calls to Full
House actress Mary-Kate Olsen before she dialed
the police emergency dispatcher 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.
Police told the
Associated Press on Friday that they do not want to
interview the actress in connection with the calls.
At the funeral
home Friday morning, a few onlookers and a large crowd of
journalists gathered outside. Ledger's family was expected
there later in the day.
Ledger's
publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said no details about the funeral
would be shared with the media.
Ledger's family
placed a death notice 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.''
The actor's
sister, Kate, said she could ''hardly breathe'' as she tried
to write her tribute. ''We were the ultimate soul mates,''
she said. ''You were so many things to so many people,
but to me you were just my little brother.''
The cause of
death will not be finalized 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.
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.
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 49-second call to Olsen. 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 the emergency dispatcher.
At some point
during the frenzy, Olsen, who was in California, summoned
her personal security guards to the apartment to help,
police 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.
Messages left at
telephone numbers listed for Wolozin were not returned.
Her name is not listed on the New York State Education
Department's website, which tracks licensed health
care professionals.
Among the
qualifications for a massage therapy license in New York is
CPR certification; police had said an emergency
operator provided Wolozin directions on how to perform
CPR on Ledger, but it was too late. Practicing massage
in New York without a license is a felony that can
result in fines or jail time.
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 performances for the actor in recent years. He was
one of six actors playing incarnations of Bob Dylan in
I'm Not There, and plays the psychopathic
villain the Joker in the Batman film The Dark
Knight, set to come out later this year.
Before moving to
Manhattan, Ledger lived with then-girlfriend Michelle
Williams in Brooklyn. Ledger split last year with Williams,
who played his wife in Brokeback. The two had a
daughter, 2-year-old Matilda.
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.
Olsen, 21, rose
to fame on the TV comedy Full House in a shared
role with her twin sister, Ashley. The Olsen twins
went on to make a fortune marketing their image through
their own company. Mary-Kate costars with Ben Kingsley
in The Wackness, an independent film slated for
release this year. (Tom Hays, AP)
