Overview

• He was discovered Tuesday in the inner courtyard of the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile; he was 58 and had booked a room on the 22nd floor.
• Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said his wife reported him missing after receiving a message in which he apologized and expressed an intention to end his life.
• Investigators found the room’s safety window mechanism forced open with scissors and reported no signs of a struggle or traces of medication or narcotics.
• An inquiry led by the Paris judicial police’s BRDP is underway, with a duty magistrate involved; his phone last pinged near the Bois de Boulogne on Monday, prompting dog-unit searches.
• South Africa’s government confirmed his death, President Cyril Ramaphosa called it a moment of deep grief, and Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said repatriation will proceed after French procedures and family decisions.