Happy Days star ‘died of cancer’
Authorities say former Happy Days star Erin Moran likely died from cancer at her southern Indiana home.
A statement released yesterday by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department says an autopsy revealed the 56-year-old actress had stage-four cancer, but doesn’t specify what type.
The department says Moran died on Sunday in the rural community of New Salisbury, about 32km northwest of Louisville, Kentucky.
Officials say standard toxicology test results are pending but that no illegal narcotics were found at the home.
Moran’s final days were plagued with instability as she moved from home to home and was last known to be living at a Holiday Inn Express where she was spotted in 2012.
Before that, it was reported she had been staying in a trailer park with her husband Steve Fleischmann and his mother.
Paul Petersen, of the child-actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration, suggested her distance from the support system of former child stars may have worsened matters.
“She was so far away in Indiana,” Petersen said in a Facebook post yesterday. “The help she ran from was right here, as close as a call.”
Still, he says they did all they could for Moran.
“I am proud of our efforts over the years to help Erin Moran whose troubles were many and complex.
“Don’t doubt for a moment that we tried . . . to give comfort to one of our own.”