Erica Blasberg: LPGA star dies at 25; 911 call by unidentified person

Erica Blasberg

UPDATE: Dr. Thomas Hess guilty of obstruction of justice.

25-year-old LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg was found dead in her home in Henderson, Nevada Monday. The cause of death was unknown as of this writing. TMZ.com reports that law enforcement is conducting a "death investigation" of the Orange County born, two-time All-American, 2003 NCAA Freshman of the Year and 2003 Pacific-10 Player of the Year from The University of Arizona who turned pro in 2004.

Blasberg's agent Chase Callahan released this statement:

We are devastated to learn of the passing of Erica Blasberg. To most of the world, Erica was known as a professional golfer, but she was more than that. She was a loving daughter to her parents and a compassionate and loyal friend. Erica had a good heart, was extremely kind and very thankful for what she had in her life.

It's hard to tell what's happened with Erica Blasberg of late because her website blog has not been updated in 13 months and her Twitter page is gone.

While TMZ gives a sketch, the Press-Enterprise has a more ominous text from her father:

"At first glance it looks like she might have taken her own life, but at second glance, something is very, very strange about it," said Erica's father, Mel Blasberg, by phone from Nevada. "We're waiting for the police to make an investigation, it's a pending investigation.

"Either way, I lost her and it's impossible to deal with."

Her parents lost their only child


ESPN reports that police responded to a 911 call, but they did not say who made the call.  

Online accounts paint Erica Blasberg as a fun-loving, free-sprited woman who was not caught up in her celebrity. Shane Bacon of FanHouse, who was a friend of Erica's and had the rare pleasure of being her caddy last year in Phoenix, posted this:

I just woke up at 7:58 AM PT. I opened Jimmy Roberts "Breaking the Slump" last night at 10:00 PM and read exactly one word before completely passing out. Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted from a long week of caddying for Erica Blasberg.

First, I'd like to thank Erica. I'm sure I cost her two shots a round, but it was fun she couldn't have been more pleasant to work with. If there is a tour player perfect for this little experiment it would be her.

And Erica wrote a long account of their time together. Here's part of it:

He quickly eased my fears though when a couple holes later I tried to get my own yardage. I didn't properly add the numbers and Shane quickly helped with my math skills and fixed my mistake for me. But besides all those technical things it was great having Shane out there. He kept me laughing and relaxed most of the four days and more importantly didn't let me get down on myself for too long after a bad hole. It might be that we get along so well off the course that made our chemistry on the course so solid, but whatever it was I think I can honestly say that besides not having the results i was hoping for (damn you Camelback Mountain, not all putts broke away from you!) I really had one of my favorite weeks on tour in my five year career. Thanks Shane for putting up with me and all of my many putter tosses ... hope your shins don't hurt too bad!

Shane wrote a moving account of their friendship over at Yahoo!

Erica's representatives took great pains to keep her personal life off the Internet. In the Q and A section of her website, Erica responded to a fan, Mike Barry of Corona, Ca, who seemed frustrated that his questions weren't answered. This is what she wrote to him online:

"Mike I'm sorry your previous questions were not answered. It's impossible for me to answer the many questions sent and trust my agent; Rep1Sports to do the filtering. Things like: a request for autographed pictures ( joining my fan club would include that), although flattering, questions about meeting me, or if I'm single and anything outside of golf, are things that I never see. My fan base is one of the things that makes playing golf professionaly, wonderful. I enjoy the Q & A section of my website, so keep those questions coming."

What's interesting is that Erica Blasberg is from the same Corona town Mike Barry apparently lived in at the time of online contact.  Maybe it's nothing.

Stay tuned.