DEMPASAR, Indonesia, June 25 (UPI) -- An Australian tourist whose body was found among shrubs near an Indonesian village on Bali died from asphyxiation, a medical examiner said Monday.
Mark Ovenden was also reportedly beaten on the head, neck and chest, The Jakarta Post reported. Dr. Dudut Rustyadi, head of the forensic department at Sanglah Hospital in Dempasar, Bali, said the immediate cause of death was pressure on the muscles of the throat.
"It could be the result of strong pressure applied with a wooden stick or some other hard object," the doctor said. "But it certainly is not caused by strangulation, because we didn't find circular blunt trauma around the neck."
A villager searching for grass for his cows found Ovenden's body Thursday near the village of Kutuh, police said. The death was being treated as suspicious.
Adjutant Commissioner Gede Ganefo with the South Kuta police said Ovenden was dressed in shorts with no shirt. He had not been robbed since police found a silver ring, watch and a wallet containing the equivalent of $63 in Indonesian currency and a bank card.
Ovenden was from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
