Hulk Hogan death investigation concludes with release of files

TAMPA, Fla. – After nearly a year, police have closed their investigation into the death of Terry Bollea – better known as Hulk Hogan – concluding there was no evidence his death was “anything other than natural.”

The Clearwater Police Department released more than 70 pages of files on Friday, detailing interviews with Hogan’s family members, doctors and the first responders who rushed to his Clearwater home on July 24, 2025.

The comprehensive report shows Hogan was battling a cascade of severe health issues outside the public eye. In the weeks before his death, Hogan was coping with a recent diagnosis of lymphocytic leukemia, failing kidneys and a grueling recovery from surgery on his aortic heart valve and a cervical neck fusion.

Public speculation that a mishandled surgery contributed to the death appears to have originated with an occupational therapist who had arrived at the home shortly before Hogan stopped breathing that July morning.

The therapist, who performed CPR until paramedics arrived, was recorded on police body camera at the scene telling an officer that Hogan’s phrenic nerve – which runs from the neck to the chest and is critical in controlling breathing – had been severed.

When interviewed by detectives again four months later, the therapist backtracked and said he’d only “assumed” the nerve was severed, and said that at the scene he’d been “blabbing ’cause I was nervous.”

While the local medical examiner declined to perform an autopsy, detectives reviewed a private autopsy commissioned by the family. That autopsy report concluded that Hogan died “exclusively from compelling natural disease, with no reasonable traumatic or terminal toxicologic contributions.”

The report shows the steps Clearwater detectives took to rule out foul play or an unnatural death. Investigators subpoenaed medical records from multiple healthcare facilities, audited Hogan’s prescription drug history through the Drug Enforcement Administration to ensure there was no illicit overprescribing and interviewed more than a dozen people.

The report states that Hogan’s wife permitted detectives to view security footage from inside the home on the morning of the death, corroborating all witness statements. Footage showed Bollea eating breakfast, watching TV, resting and exhibiting no signs of distress or outside physical trauma until he stopped breathing, the report states.

The DEA found no overprescribing anomalies or signs of misuse. The report states that physical pill counts showed that Bollea was actively taking fewer pain medications than he had been prescribed.

Police interviewed family members, home health workers, Hogan’s primary care physician, the medical examiner and first responders.

“Following an exhaustive review of the statements, medical records, surveillance footage from within the residence, and a visual inspection of Mr. Bollea’s body, there has been no evidence to indicate the death of Terry Bollea was anything other than natural,” Clearwater police Detective Daniel Bieber wrote in the final report. “Through the course of the investigation, there has been no evidence to indicate any criminal wrongdoing related to his death. This case will be closed, and will be considered solved, non-criminal.”

The evidence suggests that Hogan died peacefully in his sleep.

According to the report, security footage showed a home health aide arrived around 7 a.m. on July 24 and helped Hogan take the elevator downstairs to a recliner in the living room. He ate yogurt, took his morning medications and watched TV until he dozed off.

The aide told police Hogan had been having trouble sleeping at night due to pain, so he often slept during the day.

Around 9:30 a.m., the occupational therapist arrived. He and the aide left the living room briefly to check on a device that had been installed in a bathroom.

When the therapist returned, he discovered Hogan wasn’t breathing. Hogan’s wife, Melanie Bollea, called 911. The therapist began CPR. Hogan was pronounced dead at Morton Plant Hospital shortly after 11 a.m.

While the closure of the police investigation rules out foul play or criminal negligence in Hogan’s death, it does not close the book on civil lawsuits.

In October, Melanie Bollea petitioned the circuit court in Pinellas County to extend the window of time in which a malpractice lawsuit could be filed.

At the time, lawyers for Melanie Bollea were undertaking their own investigation into Hogan’s medical history. The current status of any such investigation is unknown.

Hulk Hogan death investigation concludes with release of files

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