UPDATE: The DEA join the investigation.
The US Attorney and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Minnesota are officially joining the investigation into the circumstances of Prince’s death, they announced today.
The investigation will still be lead by Carver County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA and US Attorney’s role will be to “augment” the investigation and provide “federal resources and expertise about prescription drug diversion”.
New details have emerged from the day of Prince’s death.
According to a report in Minnesota’s Star Tribune, Prince was meeting with a specialist the day that he died to receive help for his reported opioid addiction.
Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a national authority on opioid addiction based in Mill Valley, CA, was contacted by Prince’s people on April 20 to seek help after his emergency plane landing earlier that month. Kornfeld was unable to get out to Minnesota and sent his son Andrew, instead, according to Minnesota attorney William Mauzy who is working with Kornfeld.
From the report: “When Andrew Kornfeld arrived at Paisley Park at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Prince’s representatives could not find him, Mauzy said. Andrew Kornfeld was one of three people at Paisley Park when the musician’s body was found in an elevator a few minutes later — and it was Andrew Kornfeld who called 911.” Prince’s family was too in shock to make the call themselves.
Dr. Kornfeld’s son reportedly had arrived with buprenorphine, a synthetic opiate for pain management and to wean people off actual opiates, but it was already too late.
There is still one more week until Prince’s toxicology report will come back, and while there is currently no speculation of foul play or suicide, there will be a criminal investigation pending reports of drug use.
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