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Mark Salling, an American singer and actor best known for playing Puck on the popular Fox TV series Glee, died at the age of 35, weeks before he was scheduled to go to prison on two counts of child p*rnography. He was found dead during a welfare check after a family member reported him missing on the same day.
The actor's body was found hanging from a tree in the San Fernando Valley close to his home in Sunland, California, in January 2018. According to USA Today, the coroner's spokesperson confirmed that Salling's "cause of death was asphyxia by hanging, suicide."
Investigation Discovery is all set to debut The Price of Glee, an upcoming three-part documentary series that will chronicle the multiple controversies and deaths that have overshadowed the hit musical comedy's roaring success over the years. The docuseries premieres this Monday, January 16, 2023, at 9 pm ET.
Glee actor Mark Salling's cause of death was asphyxia
The Los Angeles coroner's office determined that Mark Salling, the former Glee actor who was discovered dead on January 30, 2018, died by suicide after hanging himself.
Salling, 35, was found in the Los Angeles Riverbed in an isolated part of Big Tujunga Canyon, a few miles from his residence in the Sunland-Tujunga community in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. He was due to be sentenced on charges of possessing child p*rnography in March of that year.
The official cause and manner of death were determined by an autopsy, notwithstanding the police and coroner's office's original evaluation that Salling died by suicide. His attorney verified the actor's demise after he was discovered dead following a "welfare check" at 8.50 am.
Mark Salling was scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty to child p*rnography charges
Mark Salling was arrested in December 2015 after the LAPD's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at his residence. It was after this that he was accused of receiving and possessing child p*rnography in a federal indictment filed in May 2016.
Prior to his death, Salling agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, in which he confessed to possessing p*rnographic images of prepubescent children. He was slated to be sentenced as a penalty. Reports revealed that Salling's computer and a thumb drive with more than 50,000 pictures of child p*rn.
The prosecution decided to seek a jail term of four to seven years for the actor. In addition, he would have had to adhere to housing restrictions, pay restitution, and register as a s*x offender.
Salling became the second Glee actor to die a tragic death after Cory Monteith's July 2013 overdosing incident. The actor was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the age of 31. Reports stated that he died of a fatal combination of heroin and alcohol.
Naya Rivera then became the third Glee star to die after she accidentally drowned in a California lake in 2020.
Tune in to ID's The Price of Glee this Monday, January 16, to learn more about the case involving Mark Salling and other late Glee actors.
