Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said during a news conference that Prince was last seen Wednesday evening, when an acquaintance dropped him off at his sprawling compound, Paisley Park.
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Olson did not reveal possible causes of death, but he said there were no signs of trauma. “Staff members from Paisley Park had been unable to contact Prince yesterday morning”, he said.
Olsen reiterated some details involving the initial response to the 911 call, explaining that fire, rescue and ambulance responded to the emergency and found Prince unresponsive in his Paisley Park elevator.
Prince performed two 80-minute sets in one night at the Fox Theater in Atlanta on April 14.
He spoke of Prince as a good member of the community and said he had been a “friend to [his staff] as well as being an employer”.
Martha Weaver, spokesperson for Midwest Medical Examiner’s office, said “results from the autopsy may take several weeks-which is not unusual”.
Police said they are OK with crowds gathering at Paisley Park as long as Prince’s estate does not object.
Olson told media he and other officers have naloxone, which counteracts the effect of an opiate overdose, but he said it was not used at all Thursday.
“We have no reason to believe at this point that it is a suicide”, he said.
They discovered Prince’s lifeless body in the lift of the property. Prince didn’t pick up calls. He said it was common to open an investigation under these circumstances. The medical emergency prompted the pilot of his private jet to make an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois as the superstar flew home from a gig in Georgia.
That person, whom the sheriff did not identify, has been interviewed as part of the investigation.
Authorities say they have completed the autopsy on Prince’s body, but preliminary findings were not being immediately released. Sheila E. said Friday that she last spoke to Prince about eight months ago. However, Olson stressed that it’s “normal protocol” to investigate an unwitnessed death and that “no inference should be taken”. “I don’t recall a cell phone within the close proximity of where he was at”.
When asked if there were prescription drugs found at the scene, officials said no information was available at this time. The local sheriff says first-responders performed CPR, but that Prince couldn’t be revived.
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Questions surrounding Prince’s health swirled about in the days leading to his death Thursday at his Paisley Park compound.
