Jett Travolta's remains returning to U.S.

By Vanessa Rolle ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) -- Jett Travolta's cremated ashes were to be returned to the United States on Tuesday, a funeral home director said, four days after the 16-year-old collapsed in his celebrity parents' holiday home in the Bahamas.

Doctors performed an autopsy on the body of actor John Travolta's son on Monday, and an undertaker who said he saw the death certificate told the Associated Press the cause of death was listed as a seizure.

Glen Campbell, assistant director of the Bahamas funeral home that handled the remains, said the body is in "great condition," despite police officials who had said the teen hit his head on a bathtub.

Authorities didn't release the results of the autopsy, but Campbell said the death certificate was based on its finding. "The only cause of death that was listed was 'seizure,'" he said. Jett Travolta had a history of seizures and was found unconscious in a bathroom Friday at a family home on Grand Bahama Island.

Keith McSweeney, director of the funeral home, told news conference that the body was being cremated late Monday and Jett Travolta's parents planned to bring the ashes back to the United States on Tuesday.

Late Monday, a black hearse traveled from the funeral home to the airport after the family indicated they were bringing Jett's remains to Ocala, Florida, where they own a home. Two white jets waited as police in dress uniforms blocked access to the tarmac.

But the hearse was dispatched as a ruse, McSweeney told a news conference later Monday. He said he could not explain the reason for the decoy.

In a public statement released Sunday, John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston said they were "heartbroken that our time with him was so brief."

Travolta tried CPR to revive his son, who may have died in his arms before an emergency medical technician took over, Usmagazine.com reported, citing Travolta attorneys Michael McDermott and Michael Ossi. They did not respond to calls from the AP on Monday.

Travolta, 54, and Preston, 46, have said Jett became very sick when he was 2 years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome, an illness that leads to inflamed blood vessels.

Preston has blamed household cleaners and fertilizers and said a detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine.

Police said in a statement that Jett had not been seen since Thursday when a caretaker, Jeff Kathrain, found him unconscious late Friday morning. But McDermott said that wrongly left the impression that Jett was unsupervised. He said two nannies were with Jett throughout the evening, and he does not believe the teen was in the bathroom for very long.

The couple also has an 8-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.

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