The rumor mill had been churning since Prince’s death on April 21, but it’s only now been confirmed that the legendary singer, born Prince Rogers Nelson, died of an opioid overdose.
The news was confirmed by the AP earlier today.
Suspicion of drugs as the cause of Prince’s death began soon after it was confirmed that a trip to a hospital, which occurred just a week before his death, was in order to receive treatment for an overdose of Percocet. This was confirmed days after his death by TMZ.
The investigation into Prince’s death is being undertaken by the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and the Drug Enforcement Administration. They’re currently searching for the party responsible for supplying the drugs to Prince, and are focusing on two names. First is a doctor local to Minneapolis, Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, who prescribed medication to Prince in the weeks prior to his death. He saw Prince on April 20, the day before his death.
The second is a California opioid specialist, Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who, on April 20, was contacted by employees of Prince in order to help ease him from his addiction. His interaction with Prince is more complicated, as it doesn’t so much involve him as his son, Andrew, who was sent to treat Prince at his Paisley Park Estate the night before his death. Not a doctor, Andrew was still sent with a drug meant to reduce cravings of opioid addicts. Kornfeld’s attorney, William Mauzy, claims that Andrew was among the group that found Prince’s unresponsive body in the elevator on the morning of April 21.