The coroner determined Tang's cause of death after toxicology reports were completed Friday. The reports found traces of cocaine in Tang’s body, as well as gamma hydroxy butyrate, also known as the “date-rape drug.”
Ed Winter, the Coroner Office's assistant chief investigator, told XBIZ that Tang was "smothered and faced blunt trauma."
"It has been confirmed a homicide," Winter said.
Randone faces a preliminary hearing on Thursday at Pasadena Superior Court, where prosecutors will lay out the homicide case, Los Angeles District Attorney spokeswoman Shiara Davila-Morales told XBIZ.
His hearing on Thursday falls on what would have been Tang's 32nd birthday.
Gloria Allred told XBIZ on Tuesday said she couldn’t comment on the coroner’s findings because she hadn’t received a copy of the report. Tang’s family has hired attorney Allred to represent them over publicity and legal matters.
Brian Randone, who is accused of beating and suffocating Tang inside a Monrovia, Calif., apartment they shared, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could amount to life imprisonment if convicted. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
At a hearing last month, prosecutors described to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling that Tang had been beaten with a "coat hanger-like object," then suffocated by having her head held into a pillow or ground into the floor.
Phillip Wojdak, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, said that there were "innumerable injuries to Ms. Tang's body" caused by an unknown weapon. Bruising on Tang's body led investigators to believe she was suffocated against a hard surface, without a weapon.
Smerling sealed the photos of Tang's injuries at the arraignment, remarking that "the photos, needless to say, are gruesome."
But Randone's attorney said that he believes the adult star died after Randone was attempting to restrain her “out-of-control” behavior.
Randone, an Omaha, Neb., native, is a former minister and mime who was featured on a 2000 Fox reality show "The Sexiest Bachelor in America." He has lived in the Los Angeles area for most of the decade in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Burbank, Calif., as well as Monrovia.
Randone ministered at Moody Bible Institute, Dallas Theological Seminary and Taylor University Chapel. He reportedly is part owner of an assisted care facility.
Tang, whose birth name was Felicia Lee, was born in Singapore, raised in Australia, and became an online-adult top draw for seven years, from 2001 to 2008.
She starred in several Playboy TV shows, “Naked Sports,” “7 Lives Exposed” and “Buckwild,” and owned solo-girl site FeliciaTang.com, which now has become a memorial site that her family has taken over.
She also appeared in several Peach DVD movies, including “Asian Fever” and “Hotel Decadence,” and was a Peach Girl.
Tang also had leading parts in several mainstream movies, including “Rush Hour 2,” “Cradle 2 the Grave” and “The Fast and the Furious” and modeled for Sketcher Shoes. She appeared in numerous calendars.
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