Paul Walker
The autopsy report of actor Paul Walker — 1973–2013.
Early Life
Paul William Walker IV was born September 12, 1973, in Glendale, California, and raised in the San Fernando Valley. The son of a fashion model mother and a sewer contractor father who had been a boxer, he began his career as a toddler appearing in television commercials. As a child actor he appeared on shows including Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss?, Charles in Charge, and The Young and the Restless.
The Breakthrough
Walker transitioned to film in the late 1990s with roles in Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000). In 2001 he landed the role that defined his career: Brian O'Conner, the undercover LAPD officer turned street racer, in The Fast and the Furious.
Fast & Furious
Walker starred in six films in the franchise — The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7 — becoming one of the faces of one of the highest-grossing film series in history. His other credits include Joy Ride, Timeline, Into the Blue, Eight Below, Running Scared, Takers, Hours, and Brick Mansions.
The Man
Off screen, Walker was known for his humility and charity work. In 2010, after traveling to Haiti following the devastating earthquake, he founded the disaster-relief organization Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW), which sends first responders to natural disaster zones. He was the father of a daughter, Meadow Rain Walker, born in 1998.
The Crash
On November 30, 2013, Walker attended a charity event for Reach Out Worldwide in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California. He left the event as a passenger in a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT driven by his friend and business partner Roger Rodas, a race car driver and co-owner of the Always Evolving racing shop. Shortly after 3:30 p.m., the car crashed into a concrete light pole and a tree on Hercules Street at an estimated speed of 80 to 93 mph in a 45 mph zone, and burst into flames. Both men were killed. Walker was 40 years old.
The Los Angeles County Coroner determined Walker's cause of death as the combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries; Rodas died of multiple traumatic injuries. Toxicology testing was negative for drugs and alcohol for both men.
The Aftermath
Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody stood in as body doubles to complete his remaining scenes in Furious 7, with digital effects recreating his face and voice. Released in April 2015, the film closed with an emotional tribute and the song “See You Again.” Meadow Walker later settled a wrongful-death lawsuit against Porsche. Walker is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.