The late pop icon Prince died of a drug overdose, an anonymous law enforcement source told the Associated Press on Thursday.
A source with knowledge of the situation also told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Thursday that the late pop star died from an opioid overdose.
The results of an autopsy conduced on the musician days after his death have not yet been released by the local Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office or the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, which is conducting an investigation into Prince’s death.
Prince — real name Prince Rogers Nelson — was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park complex in Minnesota on the morning of April 21. He was 57.
In the days leading up to his death, reports surfaced that Prince had overdosed on the painkiller Percocet during a flight home from Atlanta and was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, where was reportedly administered a “save shot” to revive him.
The musician had contacted a painkiller addiction specialist just days before his death, who attempted to rush to Paisley Park to treat the star. The physician, Howard Kornfeld, sent his son Andrew in his place, but the younger doctor arrived too late. Kornfeld was reportedly present at Paisley Park when Prince’s body was discovered.
Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted a raid on Paisley Park last month as part of a joint federal and state investigation into the circumstances surrounding the musician’s death. The investigation centered at least in part on Kornfeld, who reportedly had in his possession a bag containing synthetic opiates when he was present at the complex.
Prince’s body was cremated shortly after the autopsy was completed. The official autopsy results could still be several weeks away.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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