Sage Stallone: Sly Asks for ‘Compassion’ Following Death of Son

Sylvester Stallone has called for an end to “the speculation and questionable reporting” surrounding the death of his son Sage, whose body was found in his Los Angeles home on Friday.

“When a parent loses a child there is no greater pain,” Stallone said in a statement released to celebrity web site TMZ.com last night. “Therefore I am imploring people to respect my talented son’s memory and feel compassion for his loving mother Sasha [Czack].”

Stallone also acknowledged the pain felt by his first wife, whom he divorced in 1985. “This agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives,” he says. “Sage was our first child and the center of our universe and I am humbly begging for all to have my son’s memory and soul left in peace.”

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Officials completed an autopsy on Sage’s body on Sunday, but the exact cause of death remains a mystery. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office told CNN that an official report may not be released for two months, as the lab must wait for the results from toxicology tests. Police have ruled out foul play.

But uncertainty over the ultimate cause of the 36-year-old’s death has kept the rumor mill churning. Speaking to E! News on Saturday, George Braunstein, Sage’s lawyer and a close friend, ruled out a drug overdose and suicide. “I never knew him to drink alcohol. I never saw him take drugs. I never knew of anything like that at all,” he said. “I’m going to wait to see what the coroner says. I think it was either natural causes or a terrible accident. I don’t think it had anything to do with drugs, he wasn’t that kind of guy. He wasn’t anyone trying to take his life.”

In an interview with People, Braunstein also denied reports that claim Sage had been dead for several days before police discovered his body. He points out that photos of Sage at home had been posted on Facebook 17 hours before police arrived at his home.