Actress Charlbi Dean's Cause Of Death Has Been Revealed After She Died Suddenly At 32

Triangle Of Sadness star Charlbi Dean's cause of death has been ruled an accident as determined by a New York City medical examiner.

The actor and South African model died suddenly in New York City in August at the age of 32, and what happened was unknown until now.

PEOPLE reports that a spokesperson for the New York City Office of chief medical examiner confirmed that Dean died of bacterial sepsis.

The sepsis was a complication from asplenia (the absence of a spleen) due to "remote blunt trauma to her torso," the spokesperson told PEOPLE.

The outlet says Dean's bacterial sepsis was caused by an infection with a bacteria known as Capnocytophaga.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Capnocytophaga germs are normal bacteria found in the mouths of people, dogs and cats.

Under the right conditions, the germs can cause an infection in people with a weakened immune system, which includes people who have had their spleens removed.

The medical examiner did not make the actor's full autopsy public, so it's not known if an animal lick or bite is what caused Dean's infection.

In August, Dean's brother, Alex Jacobs, told Rolling Stone that the actress was staying in New York with her fiancé, Luke Volker, when she began experiencing "minor symptoms."

The 32-year-old model asked Volker to take her to the emergency room where she died just hours later.

Per Cape Town Etc, she previously survived a brutal car wreck in South Africa in 2009 and was hospitalized with several broken bones from that incident.

Dean, who used to be known as Charlbi Kriek earlier in her career, was a model who also appeared in films and TV shows and was perhaps best known for her role as the villain Syonide in the CW show Black Lightning.

Some critics were expecting her breakout role to be her leading role in Triangle of Sadness, which was released in October, two months after her death.