Crowded House drummer found dead in park

[Spearmint]

Wow for any of you Crowded House and or Split Enz fans would probably know of Paul Hester.



So sad when these things happen.

News report

Crowded House drummer Paul Hester has been found dead in a park in Melbourne.

Hester, 46, the father of two young girls, failed to return home from walking his two dogs on Saturday night, Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper said.

It said police found his body on Sunday in Elsternwick Park near his home.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances, and friends said they were not aware of Hester having been depressed.

Hester quit Crowded House in 1994 but had reinvented himself as a drummer for hire, cafe owner and charismatic frontman of Music Max Sessions on Foxtel. He had also played drums in Split Enz from 1983 to 1984.

He lived in Elwood - a fashionable bayside suburb of Melbourne - with his girlfriend Mardi Sommerfeld and their two daughters aged eight and ten.

[David Meek]

Now, AP is saying he was found hanged. There's no word on whether it's murder or suicide. That's just sad.

[Spearmint]

Now, AP is saying he was found hanged. There's no word on whether it's murder or suicide. That's just sad.

The general consensus is it was suicide.

Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman Liraje Memishi said ambulance officers arrived at Elsternwick Park on Saturday afternoon, and reported Hester had "attempted suicide" and suffered "strangulation".

It is believed his body was found hanging from a tree.

Ambulance officers declared Hester dead about 20 minutes after they reached the park.