Mike Tyson Daughter Dies

Exodus Tyson's 4-year-old daughter passed away at 11.45 a.m Tuesday. It is one day after she was discovered hanging from a treadmill cable in her family's Phoenix home, police said.

Exodus Tyson's 7-year-old brother found her Monday with her neck in a cord dangling from the exercise machine, police Sgt. Andy Hill said.

"There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Exodus," the family said in a statement. "We ask you now to please respect our need at this very difficult time for privacy to grieve and try to help each other heal."

"Our sympathies go out to the family," Hill said Tuesday.

"Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, and there's a cord that hangs under the console — it's kind of a loop," Hill said. "Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it."

Exodus's mother took her daughter out of the cable, called 911 and attempted to revive her.

Responding officers and firefighters performed CPR on the little girl. She was rushed to nearby St. Joe's Hospital after she was found around 10:30 a.m. local time, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported.

Hill said former heavyweight champion Tyson, 42, had been in Las Vegas but flew to Phoenix immediately after learning of the accident.

"The Tyson family would like to extend our deepest and most heartfelt thanks for all your prayers and support, and we ask that we be allowed our privacy at this difficult time," the boxer said in a statement.

Brief footage from local TV station KTVK showed Tyson arriving at the hospital in a white button-up and black pants, and looking around with a frown before going inside.

Hill said everything in the investigation pointed to a "tragic accident."

"There's nothing in the investigation that revealed anything suspicious," he said.

The family's home is in a modest, quiet neighborhood. Neighbors say they saw Tyson there from time to time and the children played outside regularly.

Dinka Radic, who lives across the street, says the little girl would ask her if she had any chocolate in the house. When Radic would get some and give it to her, Exodus would hug the woman's knees and "kiss, kiss, kiss."

The neighborhood contrasts starkly with the lavish lifestyle Tyson had through his tumultuous years of boxing, when he spent tens of millions of dollars and says he had millions more stolen from him by unscrupulous associates. During two years at the height of his career, he earned $140 million.

The death of his child in such an unusual accident adds an awful chapter to the boxer's troubled life.

Tyson first began boxing in a facility for juvenile delinquents in upstate New York at the age of 12. Eight years later, he became the youngest heavyweight champion ever when he knocked out Trevor Berbick in 1986. But in 1990, he was defeated by James "Buster" Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, and soon after was convicted of raping a beauty pageant contestant in Indianapolis.

Tyson, who still denies he raped the woman, served three years in prison.

A few years later, he served three months in jail for beating up two men after a minor car crash in suburban Washington.

As his career continued, so did his bizarre behavior. He bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear during a boxing match and once threatened to eat the children of heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

Although Tyson's children had lived in their unassuming neighborhood for several years, he purchased a separate home in the tony Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley in 2005 for $2.1 million, selling it two years later for $2.3 million.

In November 2007, Tyson spent 24 hours in Maricopa County's "Tent City" jail after pleading guilty to one count of cocaine possession and one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. Police found the drug when they pulled over Tyson's car after he left a Scottsdale night club.

According to police, Tyson said after his arrest that he bought cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it."

At Tyson's sentencing hearing, nearly a year after the arrest, his attorney David Chesnoff said his client had taken 29 drug tests without a relapse and was attending Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Tyson had become an example of how one overcomes problems with drugs, a violent past and poor upbringing, Chesnoff said.

"He's tried his hardest," his attorney said, "despite coming from almost impossible beginnings."

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