Potential head injury not likely the cause of Billy Mays' death

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TAMPA (NBC NEWS) - Even if you didn't know the name Billy Mays, chances are you saw him every day.

He was the guy who hawked everything from OxiClean to insurance.

His products sold billions.

Mays died at his Florida home on Sunday and on Monday we know more about what happened.

"The autopsy did reveal hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease," said chief medical examiner Dr. Vernard Adams.

When Mays' wife found him Sunday morning in their Tampa home, he was unresponsive.

One day before his death, Mays was on a flight that made a hard landing, leading to speculation that he may have suffered head trauma.

He told a local TV station that he was hit when items fell from the overhead compartment and even joked, quote, I got a hard head.

But Monday’s autopsy showed no sign of any external or internal head trauma.

And while Mays was taking pain killers for hip pain and was due to have a hip replacement on Monday the number of pills in his possession was consistent with proper use.

Toxicology tests will take another 6 to 8 weeks, but authorities say there was no sign of any abuse only heart disease, now suspected as the cause of death.

For the man seen on TV as much as almost anyone, some 400 times per week.

It now appears Billy Mays death may have been as straightforward as his sales pitches but at age 50 was way too soon.

Mays leaves behind a wife and two children.

A final cause of death won't be ruled on until those toxicology tests come back.

 


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