A preliminary autopsy on French actress Marie Trintignant, who was allegedlybeaten into a coma by her rock star boyfriend, confirms she died of severe blowsto the head, judicial officials said today.
Popular French singer Bertrand Cantat remains the prime suspect in the beatingof Trintignant, which has stunned France.
The actress, who hailed from one of France's best-known film families, died onFriday from swelling of the brain after five days in a deep coma.
The autopsy, performed on Friday, showed that the 41-year-old actress receivedmultiple, violent blows to different parts of her head, which caused cranialtrauma, said the judicial officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A definitive report on the autopsy was to be released in the coming days.
Trintignant, daughter of French film star Jean-Louis Trintignant, wasallegedly beaten on July 27 at a hotel in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, whereshe was filming. Also staying at the hotel were Cantat, the actress's mother andone of her sons.
Cantat, the 39-year-old lead singer in France's top-selling rock band, NoirDesir, remained in custody in Vilnius, where he was under watch at a prisonhospital out of concern for his mental health. Cantat denies beating the actressand no charges have been filed.
Doctors in Lithuania performed two operations on Trintignant but failed toease pressure on her brain caused by cerebral hemorrhaging. She died in a Parisclinic on Friday after being flown to France a day earlier in a deep coma.
Trintignant and her mother, director Nadine Trintignant, were in Lithuaniafinishing two months of filming a television movie "Colette," based on thelife of famed French writer Sinonie-Gabrielle Colette.
AP