Travolta's son well supervised

2009-01-05 07:15

Freeport - John Travolta's 16-year-old son was "spectacularly supervised" before he was found collapsed at the family's vacation home on Grand Bahama, an attorney for the actor said on Sunday.

Police Superintendent Basil Rahming has said a caretaker found Jett Travolta unconscious in a bathroom late on Friday morning before he was pronounced dead at a Freeport hospital.

The youth was last seen entering the bathroom on Thursday, according to Rahming's police statement.

But attorney Michael McDermott said he doesn't believe that Jett was in the bathroom for a substantial amount of time.

"The police left the impression that the boy was unsupervised. No. There were two nannies with him for the entire evening," McDermott told The Associated Press.

History of seizures

"They made it seem like he was sent to the condo and nobody checked in on him until the next morning."

"(Jett) was spectacularly supervised," said McDermott, who said he has not had the chance to talk to the two nannies himself.

McDermott said he had no knowledge of Jett's medical history, but "understood he had a history of seizures". It is unclear whether Jett was taking medication for that.

The Bahamas' health minister, Dr Hubert Minnis, has said that a second, US-certified pathologist will fly in at dawn on Monday to assist with the teenager's autopsy.

"I have spoken to (Travolta) and informed him that the government is doing everything it can," Minnis said on Sunday, adding he could not disclose further specifics about the autopsy.

About a dozen security guards and Bahamian police officers patrolled around the luxury Old Bahama Bay resort community on Sunday where Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston remained inside their home.

Kawasaki Syndrome

The white-sand beach in front of the suites was closed.

The couple also have an eight-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.

Travolta, 54, is trying to finish funeral arrangements and hopes to fly his son's body to Florida by midweek, McDermott said. Travolta and Preston, 46, have a house in Ocala, Florida.

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

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

The Church of Scientology, established in 1945 by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, has attracted numerous celebrity followers.

- AP