Prince was found dead on Thursday, a week after he was hospitalized for flu-like symptoms that he later downplayed/AFP
CHANHASSEN, United States, Apr 23 – There was no evidence of trauma on Prince’s body when he was found unresponsive in an elevator at his huge compound or any indication the late music icon committed suicide, US authorities said Friday.
Stunned fans massed outside the superstar’s Paisley Park studio complex on the outskirts of Minneapolis are looking to an autopsy carried out earlier in the day to resolve the mystery around the sudden loss of their idol.
But medical officials cautioned it could be weeks before they can conclusively say what killed the enigmatic, award-winning musician, whose death at age 57 plunged the entertainment world into grief.
Prince was found dead on Thursday, a week after he was hospitalized for flu-like symptoms that he later downplayed. There have been reports the incident may have been triggered by an overdose of an opioid-based painkiller.
“We have no reason to believe at this point that this was a suicide,” Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson told a packed news conference, stressing the investigation was ongoing.
Authorities plan to file a search warrant for Prince’s vast studio complex in the coming days, though they stressed this was standard procedure.
The sheriff said there were “no obvious signs of trauma” or violence on Prince’s body.
Prince was alone at the premises when he died, but Olson refused to comment on reports of painkiller use.
The Grammy and Oscar winner, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, was last seen alive on Wednesday evening by staff at the compound, but his body was only discovered the following morning.
The local medical examiner’s office says preliminary autopsy results will take days and the results of a full toxicology scan could take weeks.
The medical examiner’s office declined to comment on possible signs of drugs or a drug overdose in Prince’s body.
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