He was a 71-year-old man with a complicated medical history who died after collapsing at home.
In any other circumstances such a tragic, but maybe not unexpected, event might not garner much attention.
Yet the man was Hulk Hogan – and now mystery over the exact circumstances of his final hours appears to be swirling deeper with time instead of being cleared up.
More than two months after the wrestling legend stopped breathing at his $8million waterfront mansion in Clearwater, Florida, police have told the Daily Mail they are still investigating his death.
Exactly what they’ve found so far, they will not say.
Inquiries to the police department in the touristy beach haven on the Sunshine State’s gulf coast was met with a curt: ‘The status of the case has not changed.’ They did, however, confirm the case is ‘ongoing.’
Hulk Hogan’s sudden death on July 24 is still under investigation by police, Daily Mail can reveal
The wrestling legend’s death at the age of 71 was ruled ‘natural’, caused by a heart attack
Added to the mix is the medical malpractice lawsuit Hogan’s grieving widow Sky Daily told the Daily Mail she is considering in relation to surgery he had in the months before death.
And if that goes ahead, it could be more than two years before speculation and questions are finally nailed down, a leading attorney and expert in the field said.
Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, collapsed at his five-bedroom, seven-bath, mansion on Clearwater Beach on the morning of July 24. He later died in hospital of natural causes.
According to a medical examiner’s certificate obtained by the Daily Mail, he suffered an acute myocardial infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack.
It also said he had a history of atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat – and leukemia. Police have previously admitted there is no evidence of foul play in Hogan’s death.
In August Daily Mail revealed Hogan’s widow Sky Daily is considering a medical malpractice lawsuit focusing on a neck surgery months earlier that she believes may have contributed to the tragedy
The WWE star collapsed at his Clearwater, Florida home before being pronounced dead at the hospital
Yet at the same time they added ‘the unique nature that has required us to interview multiple witnesses and seek medical records from a variety of providers… all this takes time’.
Daily, 46, was with Hogan when he collapsed and is believed to have made the frantic 911 call to summon police and paramedics. Bodycam footage of the tragedy has not been released.
Leading medical malpractice attorney Joe Osborne laid out any impending case’s timescale and hurdles facing Hogan’s third wife Daily, saying: ‘It’s an average two-and-a-half years.
‘First, medical records must be obtained and an expert on that particular surgery would have to decide if there’s a good faith opinion to pursue a case for what we call below standard of care.’
Osborne, who has three offices in Florida including one in Boca Raton, continued: ‘There would have to be an affidavit from that expert, then a notice of intent to initiate litigation.
‘This would go to the potential defendant, doctor or hospital and also the insurance carrier.
‘The defendant then has to do everything we would do; hire their own experts, review the records, do their own investigations over a 90-day statutory period. After that they can decide to settle or deny.
‘I’d say 95 to 99 percent of claims get denied in the pre-suit period. If the claimant wants to continue that’s when the lawsuit is filed.
‘And you could do all that and get nothing. You could lose.’
Sky claimed to Daily Mail that Hogan’s phrenic nerve was ‘compromised’ in neck surgery in May, leaving him short of breath in the months up to his heart stopping.
The nerve controls the ability to breathe and the widow told us: ‘We are investigating for possible malpractice. If you have shortness of breath for a long time, that makes you very sick.
‘It’s not something that’s an alarming (sudden) cause of death. It’s something that wears on you, makes you weak.’
Daily is reported to have had a private autopsy on the former WWE icon to help answer questions, but has not revealed the findings
Daily said Hogan had been in the care of Tampa General Hospital in the months leading up to his death, although she clarified the operation happened at a different facility
Asked if that could have contributed to his death, she replied: ‘Definitely.’
Daily said in recent months that Hogan had been under the care of nearby Tampa General Hospital.
However, she said the actual operation was at a different medical facility and refused to name any doctors involved.
She also addressed the police investigation, saying: ‘I have cameras in the house. They’ve looked at all the cameras. They’ve counted all the medicines. They’ve done everything that they would normally do.
‘They’ve seen very clear medical records… they’ve been very thorough.’
Daily Mail tried to contact Sky this week regarding updates but she has now gone quiet.
She is reported to have had a private autopsy on the former WWE icon to help answer questions, but has not revealed the findings.
Hogan’s embalmed body was at a Clearwater funeral parlor for at least five weeks after his death. It is not known if he has since been cremated.
His son Nick, 35 – who is understood to be close to Daily – refused to comment at his home in Clearwater, mumbling ‘no thank you, have a nice day’ when we visited.
Hogan’s 37-year-old estranged daughter Brooke, who has just moved to the Miami area, was exclusively photographed by Daily Mail paying her respects to her father at the funeral home in August.
Fueling controversy over the death, sources told us at the time she insisted on making the visit to see for herself that no cremation had taken place and he had undergone an autopsy.
Brooke was accompanied by former NHL player husband Steve Oleksy and looked somber as she clutched a memorial pamphlet bearing her father’s real name.
The wrestler’s daughter Brooke Hogan, 37, viewed his body at a funeral home in Clearwater in August
She was joined by her husband, former NHL player Steven Oleksy at the funeral home before visiting her attorney
‘He looked like he was ready to go on TV,’ she later told close friend Bubba the Love Sponge on his Florida-based radio show.
‘He was big, strong, hair looking good, bandana, Fu Manchu going on – he looked great.’
She added to the show host, real name Todd Clem: ‘I said a prayer over him and got to say my final goodbyes. It was super nice.’
Days before Brooke had stirred the conspiracy pot with an Instagram post saying: ‘FACT: I’ve 100% gotten legit calls from professionals – from police officials to nurse that were supposedly with my dad on the day of his death telling ME I need to see body cam footage and I need to get hold of the 911 tapes because they supposedly contain information that could potentially shed enough light to change the narrative we/!/everyone’s been hearing.’
The distraught daughter, who was left out of Hogan’s will which was last amended in 2023, has since toned down the rhetoric.
Hogan is reported to have left nearly $5million, not including the imposing home in Clearwater.
Nick is listed as the sole beneficiary for his father’s estate with Daily is listed as his surviving spouse.
The will reportedly includes $799,000 in intellectual property, $200,000 in cryptocurrency as well as his publicity rights, said to be worth $4million.
Details were revealed in court filings by Nick and obtained by Us Weekly as part of his battle to stop Hulk’s long-time friend Clem releasing a documentary about the late wrestler’s 2012 sex-tape scandal.
Gawker Media published the tape of Hogan with Clem’s then wife Heather. But the wrestler won a $140million award after suing.
The figure was later reduced to $31million cash and the website filed for bankruptcy protection.
