Latest: Police said Chyna's death was possible overdose
REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) The Latest on the death of professional wrestler Chyna (all times local):
8 a.m.
A coroner's official says police initially reported the death of former WWE wrestler Chyna as a ''possible overdose.''
Chyna, whose real name is Joan Marie Laurer, was found dead at her apartment in Redondo Beach, California, on Wednesday. She was 46.
Ed Winter, Los Angeles County's assistant chief coroner, said Wednesday that an autopsy was planned in the next few days. It could be weeks before the results of toxicology tests are known.
The muscle-bound, raven-haired Chyna shot to WWE stardom in the 1990s, becoming one of the most prominent female professional wrestlers.
She later posed for Playboy, made adult films and appeared in sitcoms and reality TV shows.
---
12:15 a.m.
Police in Southern California say they were responding to a 911 call from a friend of former WWE wrestler Chyna when they found her dead in her apartment.
Redondo Beach police said in a statement that the friend had gone Wednesday to check on Chyna, whose real name is Joan Marie Laurer, after she had failed to answer her phone for a few days. The friend told the 911 operator that Laurer wasn't breathing.
Police say the 46-year-old Laurer was dead when officers arrived. Several media outlets report that she was 45.
Neither police nor coroner's officials have released any cause of death.
Laurer in the 1990s became one of the most prominent female professional wrestlers in history.
---
11:15 p.m.
Chyna, the WWE star who became one of the best-known and most-popular female professional wrestlers in history, has died at age 45.
Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz says Chyna, whose real name is Joan Marie Laurer, was found dead in Redondo Beach on Wednesday. Dietz said his investigator was still at the location with the body late Wednesday night, and he had no further information on the death.
The tall, muscle-bound, raven-haired Chyna billed herself as the ''9th Wonder of the World'' because her wrestling predecessor Andre the Giant had already called himself the eighth.
Rising to prominence in the late 1990s, she was a member of the wrestling squad that dubbed itself ''D-Generation X,'' often wrestled against men and at one point was the WWE women's champion.
---
This story has been updated to reflect that Laurer was 46, according to a police statement.