Ledger's body going home … with stop in L.A.?

Family members of Australian-born actor Heath Ledger claimed his body from a Manhattan funeral home Friday, The New York Times and Reuters reported, and police officers who had been assigned to the funeral home said the body would be flown to Australia for burial.

A public remembrance also has been proposed for Los Angeles, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told reporters in New York where he was visiting the United Nations.

"I understand there's a private memorial service today for family members. I also understand it's proposed there will be a public memorial service in Los Angeles later this week," Smith said, adding that Australian consular officials have offered to help the family repatriate the body.

He provided no details of a Los Angeles memorial, and said any tributes in Australia would be up to the family.

"Certainly in Australia, in my own home town of Perth (where Ledger was from), there's been public expressions of grief and sadness at the passing of Heath," Smith said.

Ledger, 28, was found dead in bed in his apartment on Tuesday. A bottle of prescription sleeping pills was nearby.

An autopsy on Wednesday was inconclusive, and the medical examiner's office is awaiting the results of blood and tissue tests before announcing the cause of death.