Federal authorities have made a decision to help out in investigating Prince’s death.
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Mauzy’s account is the most public yet pointing to issues with opioid pain medication as a significant, life-threatening issue in Prince’s last days.
“Andrew’s goal in being there was to describe the Recovery Without Walls program to familiarize Prince with that”, Mauzy explained.
Kornfeld was carrying a starter dose of buprenorphine when Prince was found, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, but this was not injected at any time by the visiting member of Recovery Without Walls, according to Mauzy.
Dr. Howard Kornfeld, who runs Recovery Without Walls, a clinic in Mill Valley, California, planned to fly to Minnesota on April 22, his lawyer William Mauzy said.
Investigators conducted an autopsy before Prince’s cremation and have not yet released a cause of death, although the Carver County Sheriff’s Department said there was no sign of trauma to his body or evidence of suicide. When he arrived there, he was one of three people to find Prince in an elevator, unresponsive, according to MailOnline.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota are now assisting the local authorities in the investigation, although Reuters reports “the cause of Prince’s death remained undetermined”.
The Drug Enforcement Agency and the US attorney’s office announced that they were assisting Carver County investigators after learning that a California doctor had been called for addiction treatment. Police have not announced if a separate investigation into Kornfeld would also be started.
The investigation into his death is still ongoing and now the federal authorities have jumped onboard the case to help determine whether Prince died from an overdose and, if so, who administered him the drugs in the first place.
Dr. Kornfeld was scheduled to arrive to Minnesota the next day. Mauzy says the goal was to get Prince’s health stabilized, and then bring him to California to help break the addiction.
“He was contacted because he’s a nationally recognized expert”, he said of Kornfeld.
“You’re at Paisley Park; okay, that’s in Chanhassen”, the dispatcher said.
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Mauzy expressed concern that Andrew Kornfeld could face charges, but said he believes he would have immunity with regard to the medication in his backpack under a Good Samaritan 911 law. His son, Andrew Kornfeld, who has been described as a pre-med student, was not a licensed prescriber.
