defunct process

[Jeffrey <seesej uswest net>]

Hi, 
I have a script that runs every 3-5 seconds on a heavily traffic web site
(due to client requests). I keep seeing this script die with a <defunct>
after it in top. 

This script does not fork and is not the result of a fork. There are only 3
subroutines in the script and all of them exit();

How do I find out why/where the script is exiting that way, and how to
prevent it. There are no entries in the error log.

Thanks in advance
Jeff