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Michelle Trachtenberg’s family has objected to an autopsy, leaving the actor’s cause of death undetermined.
The family cited religious reasons, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told ABC News.
Trachtenberg’s mother found the 39-year-old actor dead at her apartment near Columbus Circle on Wednesday morning. She has reportedly recently gone through a liver transplant and may have experienced complications from it.
The medical examiner didn’t suspect criminality or any foul play, so an investigation into her death will be limited to an external examination, according to ABC News.
Trachtenberg began her acting career as a child, landing roles in the Nickelodeon series “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” and then the title role in the 1996 film “Harriet the Spy,” starring alongside Rosie O’Donnell.
She went on to star in “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Her former co-stars mourned her death Wednesday, including her “Gossip Girl” co-star Blake Lively, who wrote on social media that Trachtenberg was “electricity.”
“You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed. Everything she did, she did 200%,” Lively wrote.
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She continued: “She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry, as painful as it could be sometimes.”
Chace Crawford, another one of Trachtenberg’s co-stars on “Gossip Girl,” wrote on Instragram that Trachtenberg was “one of a kind.”
“I remember her coming on set for the first time and just absolutely owning it,” he wrote. “She was a force of nature and just so so unapologetically funny and magnetic.. remembering those years with a big smile,” he wrote. “Just a terrible loss. Love you ❤️.”