New details are released in Prince’s fatal drug overdose

Investigators have yet to find singer’s source for fentanyl.

Investigators searching Paisley Park within hours of Prince’s death last April found prescription medications in pharmaceutical bottles labeled in the name of a friend and busi- ness associate, and a pam- phlet on how to be weaned from drugs, according to search warrants unsealed Monday.

But they found nothing that would confirm the source of the powerful drug fentanyl that killed the musician. Investigators said they found no prescriptions under Prince’s name.

Prince, 57, died April 21 from an accidental, self-administered overdose of fentanyl, according to a report released last June by the Midwest Medical Examin- er’s Office. The report gave no indica t ion of how Prince obtained the painkiller, nor did it list any other cause of death or “sig- nificant conditions.”

Authorities have said neither foul play nor suicide is suspected.

Carver County authorities investigating Prince’s death executed a total of 11 search warrants between April 21, when two of Prince’s associates found his lifeless body, and Sept. 19. The warrants were unsealed Monday, nearly a year after his death.

Kirk Johnson, Prince’s drummer, friend and long- time business associate, told investigators at Paisley Park in the hours after he and Meron Bekure, Prince’s per- sonal assistant, found the musician’s body in an ele- vator, that Prince was strug- gling with opioid abuse and withdrawal, according to the search warrant affidavits.

Johnson also told them that Prince reported “not feeling well” in the hours before he died, the docu- ments said.

Authorities were called to Paisley Park, located in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen, at 9:43 a.m. April 21 after Prince’s body was discovered. Despite attempts by emergency responders to revive him, he was pronounced dead less than a half-hour later.

Prince had not been seen or heard from since 8 p.m. April 20, according to the documents released Monday. He may have been dead for as long as six hours.

The affidavits also show that investigators conducted interviews far and wide, poring over cellphone records and email accounts in hopes of finding answers to the source of the fentanyl.

Prince had no cellphone because he’d been hacked years earlier. He communicated by email and by landline.