Bill Mays pitches a new product on South Park that gets blood out of your underwear. The fact that Mays is being remembered says a lot about his star power.

Billys Mays, William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr., autopsy report concluded he had detectable traces of the following drugs in his body at the time of his death: hydrocodone, oxycodone, alprazolam, nordiazepam, benzoylecgonine (metabolite of cocaine), and temazepam, and ethanol (aka alcohol).

Benzoylecgonine (ecgonine benzoate) is the primary metabolite of cocaine, so there is high certainty that Mays had used cocaine in the days before his death, however, the results show cocaine "may" have contributed to his death, but wasn’t the cause. Other contributing factors were arteriosclerotic heart disease (hardening and plaguing of the arteries), and untreated hypertension (high blood pressure).

Mays died in his sleep after going to bed complaining of a headache.

Billy’s widow, Deborah Mays, said she is "extremely disappointed" with the Hillsborough County medical examiner’s office, and accused them of sending out a "speculative" report that’s damaging her husband’s image. Deborah said:

"We are extremely disappointed by the press release released by the Hillsborough County medical examiner’s office. We believe it contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension, which only demonstrates how important it is to regularly monitor one’s health."

"Given the hectic nature and pace of Billy’s life, especially during the past 10 months of his exhaustive travel across the country, it was not surprising to hear that hypertension was the cause of his death. We were totally unaware of any non prescription drug usage and are actively considering an independent evaluation of the autopsy results."

"As those who were close to Billy knew, he had been in chronic pain for more than two years and was about to have his third hip surgery in 18 months. His use of prescription pain medication for his hip condition was guided by his physician and was at recommended usage levels. This has been a very difficult period for our family and we appreciate the respect for our privacy that Billy’s many clients, fans and members of the media have extended. We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers for the family and will not have any immediate comment beyond this statement."

Deborah makes a great point that Billy was being seen by a doctor, so the doctor must have told him he needed treatment for his high blood pressure, but since the symptoms most often can’t be felt, which is why high blood pressure is a called the silent killer, Billy may have opted for the pain meds, but not the high blood pressure meds. Cocaine, on the other hand, is not something someone with high blood pressure should be using in any amount.

So how did the coroner know that Billy had used cocaine? Remember that benzoylecgonine is a metabolite of cocaine that shows up after use in the body. It is such an accurate tracker of cocaine use that in 2005, scientists found surprisingly large quantities of benzoylecgonine in Italy’s Po River, and used its concentration to estimate the number of cocaine users in the region. In 2006, a similar study was performed in the Swiss ski town of Saint-Moritz using waste water to estimate the daily cocaine consumption of the population. The odds of benzoylecgonine being found in someone who had not used cocaine is almost zero.

We still believe Billy Mays was a great person, and this report in no way changes how we view this very nice, and kind, man.

TV pitchman Billy Mays died Sunday morning at the young age of 50 following a head injury. Mays was onboard a U.S. Airways flight on Saturday when the front tires blew out causing heavy objects to either fall on Mays’s head, or he hit his head on a hard object, it is not clear exactly which happened, but he did get a head injury. After the flight Mays spoke to Fox 13 in Tampa saying:

"It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

Mays wrote on Twitter:

"Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."

Mays’ wife, Deborah, found him in bed at their home and called 911 when she couldn’t revive him around 7:45a.m.

Tampa police said there were no signs of foul play.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said any connection between the rough landing and Mays’ death would "purely be speculation." There were no reported injuries at the time of the landing. An autopsy will be done on Mays today.

Mays’ son Billy Mays, Jr. (22) wrote on Twitter:

"My dad didn’t wake up this morning. It hasn’t yet hit me but it’s about to. He’s gone. I’m gonna be strong for him. I’m thankful I got to talk to my dad last night. I miss him immensely already. But I feel him with me."

Mays had no known major health problems, although he walked with a limp and was planning to have hip replacement surgery.

Deborah Mays said in a statement:

"Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."

Billy’s wife said that Billy said he wasn’t feeling well before he went to bed Saturday night, and he died in his sleep.

The autopsy results revealed this morning showed that Billy had hypertension (high blood pressure), and heart disease, specifically coronary artery sclerosis (atherosclerosis), or a narrowing of the heart arteries due to plague build up. Billy’s had an enlarged heart, which means he was heading towards congestive heart failure (CHF) later in his life. At this point doctors suspect, but may never be able to confirm, that a lethal arrhythmia (abnormal heart beat) may have been the cause of death.

The inflammation from Mays bad hip could have accelerated the build up of plague in his heart arteries, especially the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) artery that supplies blood to the the heart’s left ventricle, which pumps about 75% of the blood. When the LAD is occluded (clogged), and that causes an anterior myocardial infarction (a type of heart attack), it is referred to as the Widow Maker. Any electrical disturbance in the left ventricle could be deadly. Sometimes the first sign of heart disease, besides abnormal cholesterol and lipid levels, is sudden cardiac death.

The autopsy did not show any evidence of an external or internal head injury.

Billy Mays was one of the most pleasant, and likable pitchmen in the business. We will miss you Billy. Our best wishes to Billy’s family.