Extreme Makeover: Home Edition star Eduardo Xol has died 10 days after he was stabbed in an apartment in Palm Springs, California.
Xol, 58, was pronounced dead at the Desert Regional Medical Center on Friday 20 September, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
His death comes 10 days after the 58-year-old called 911 in the early hours of Tuesday 10 September to say that he needed help, People reported.
Officers arrived on the scene of an apartment block on East Arenas Road, Palm Springs, to find the TV star suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Palm Springs Police Department told TMZ that Xol sustained “significant injuries” and was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in “serious but stable condition.”
Richard Joseph Gonzales, a 34-year-old from Cathedral City, California, was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Following Xol’s death, Gonzalez has been charged with murder.
It is unclear how the two men are connected, with police confirming to People that they were “associates”.
It is also unclear what led up to the fatal stabbing.
However, Gonzales had allegedly contacted police later in the morning of September 10 after Xol had been stabbed to report that he himself had been the victim of an assault the night before, reported People. Following the call, police allegedly established that Gonzales was at the scene of the stabbing and was “likely the suspect”, according to the outlet.
Gonzales was booked into John Benoit Detention Center in Indio where he is being held without bail.
Xols’s family released a statement to Deadline saying they are “heartbroken at the tragic loss of our beloved Eduardo Xol.”
“As his family, we know that his kindness has touched the lives of so many…we ask for that kindness returned now allowing our privacy to be respected as we process our grief,” the statement read.
“In lieu of flowers we ask that donations be made in Eduardo’s name to the Lupus Foundation of America as he spent so much of his life in the service of others.”
Richard Perez Feria, a friend of the late TV star designer and former editor-in-chief of People en Español, took to Instagram to pay tribute to Xol.
“It’s nearly incomprehensible that I’m writing this post as a goodbye to someone who has been so present, so important in my life,” he wrote. “When I first learned that Eduardo Xol had passed, I went numb. It was impossible to process that information as it didn’t square with my thousands of experiences with him.”
In the post, which pictured the star with friends, Perez Feria described Xol as “a talented, beautiful, passionate friend, brother, son and partner.”
Xols was born in east LA to Mexican-American parents and studied musical theater and comedy at the University of California, Los Angeles, according to IMDB.
He acted in Latin-American television projects for Latin-American audiences before appearing in seven seasons of Extreme Makeover, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
