Actress Michelle Trachtenberg’s death was ruled “undetermined” Thursday morning after her family objected to an autopsy, according to a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office and sources.
The office said it’s obligated to honor the family’s request due to the state’s public health law, the sources said. This limited the medical examiner to only conducting an external examination, which limits what can be determined.
Trachtenberg, 39, was found by her mother around 8 a.m. Wednesday at One Columbus Place, a 51-story luxury apartment complex in Manhattan’s Central Park South neighborhood, the sources said.
The actress, whose credits include the title role in the 1996 film “Harriet the Spy,” “Gossip Girl,” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” had undergone a liver transplant within the last year, a source told The Post, adding her body may have rejected the organ.
Her family’s wishes not to conduct a formal autopsy means it’s unlikely any further investigation will be done into her shocking death.
Her death certificate now officially states “undetermined” as both cause and manner, sources said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
