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Tag: autopsy

  • Bobbi Kristina Brown: Here’s What’s In Her Autopsy

    Bobbi Kristina Brown: Here’s What’s In Her Autopsy

    More than a year after the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, a judge finally allowed the medical examiner to release her autopsy results the public.

    According to the findings gathered by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office in Georgia, several substances were found in Bobbi Kristina’s system, including alcohol, marijuana, morphine, prescription sedatives, anxiety medication, and even a cocaine by-product.

    The ME is still investigating whether the presence on morphine in Bobbi Kristina’s system was a sign of heroin use. Heroin is either metabolized into morphine or excreted in the person’s urine.

    The death of Bobbi Kristina Brown has been compared to that of her famous mother, Whitney Houston due to the similar nature of their deaths. Like Whitney, Bobbi Kristina was also found unconscious in a bathtub, although she made it alive to the hospital as opposed to her mother who was pronounced dead after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts by paramedics.

    Autopsy reports of both mother and daughter reveal similar substances in their systems as well. The 22-year-old daughter of Whitney and Bobby Brown reportedly died of “hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, delayed effects” and “immersion of face in water complicating mixed drug intoxication.”

    Just hours after his late daughter’s autopsy report was released, Bobby Brown canceled his appearance at the Charleston Jam Fest in North Charleston, South Carolina. He was set to perform with other R&B greats such as Keith Sweat, Jagged Edge, and 112, but pulled out due to an “illness.” The release of Bobbi Kristina’s cause of death auspiciously fell on March 4th – or what would have been her 23rd birthday.

    Aside from drugs and alcohol found in her system, the ME also indicated signs of acute injury on the body of Bobbi Kristina Brown. The report stated that there were depressions in her skull as well as bruises called ecchymosis found on her arms and thighs. They also noted dozens of “well-healed scars the head and neck, torso, and extremities.”

  • Peaches Geldof: Funeral Scheduled for Easter Monday

    Peaches Geldof will be laid to rest on Easter Monday. The daughter of Bob Geldof and the late Paula Yates was found dead in her apartment on April 7th. Officials say no foul play was involved in the 25-year-old mother of two’s death, but the cause of her passing remains unexplained.

    The funeral service for Peaches will take place at the same church where both she and her parents were married–St. Mary Magdalene and St. Lawrence Church in Davington. It will be a private service.

    It could still be one or two more weeks before the toxicology report on Peaches Geldof arrives. The results of her autopsy were deemed inconclusive. Authorities say detectives are still in the process of investigating the surrounding circumstances of Geldof’s untimely death and will hand their report to a coroner. It is likely at that point that an inquest will be held. This is a legal procedure in the U.K. used for determining the facts when an unexplained or violent death has occurred.

    Peaches Geldof was initially well known for her teenage rebellion. Often in trouble, she frequently drew attention in the public eye. She settled down, however, and later became known for her successes as a model, writer, and TV presenter. She embraced motherhood. She and husband Tom Cohen, who survives her, had two sons together. One of those sons, 11-month-old Phaedra, was reportedly by her side when she died.

    It is heartbreaking when a beautiful young mother dies at just 25 years old, leaving behind two very small children. Hopefully the answers reached in the inquest will be ones the family can use to find closure from this horrific ordeal.

    As Peaches Geldof is laid to rest on Monday, may her loved ones find some sort of solace–the kind that seems almost unfathomable when someone so young and so vibrant is taken away much too soon.

    Image via YouTube

  • Lisa Robin Kelly’s Autopsy Results Are In

    Lisa Robin Kelly’s cause of death has finally been determined. According to a report released by the Los Angeles County Coroner on Friday, the former That 70s Show actress died from multiple drug intoxication.

    Kelly passed away while sleeping, on August 15, after a fighting a long battle with drug addiction. She was only 43-years-old. According to her publicist, Kelly had checked into rehab several days before her death, and was hopeful that the treatment would finally work.

    “Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years,” Craig Wyckoff said. “I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night she lost the battle.”

    Currently, the only information that has been revealed is that Kelly died from an accidental drug overdose. Further details, and the full toxicology report should be available to the public within the next few weeks.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Wrestler’s Body Found Stuffed with Newspapers

    Chilling new details have emerged in the death of Lowndes County High School wrestler Kendrick Johnson. The 17-year-old was found suffocated inside of a rolled up gym mat in January, and now an independent pathologist has found that most of his organs were replaced with newspaper, upon an exhumation of the body for a second autopsy.

    State medical examiners had initially concluded that the three-sport athlete suffocated after getting stuck while reaching for a sneaker. Johnson’s parents never fully bought that story, and won a court order for a second autopsy. To their horror, the independent pathologist they’d hired discovered that the brain, heart, lungs, liver and other viscera were missing.

    Dr. Bill Anderson, who found that every organ from the skull to pelvis was missing, said, “I’m not sure at this point who did not return the organs to the body. But I know when we got the body, the organs were not there.” Dr. Anderson also found that newspaper had been stuffed into the body where the organs should be.

    Kendrick’s father Kenneth Johnson told CNN, “We have been let down again. When we buried Kendrick, we thought we were burying Kendrick, not half of Kendrick.”

    Typically, after an autopsy, organs are placed inside plastic bags, and then put back inside the cadaver. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted the first autopsy in January, and the Harrington Funeral Home in Valdosta did the teen’s embalming and burial. The GBI has claimed that the organs were put back into the body before it was released to the funeral home. Funeral home director Antonio Harrington told the Johnson’s attorney that the organs were missing when they got it. Harrington claimed that the organs “were destroyed through natural process” due to the position of the body upon suffocation, and “discarded by the prosecutor before the body was sent back to Valdosta.”

    Stuffing a body with newspaper is not “consistent with the standards of care”, according to Vernie Fountain, the founder of a Missouri embalming school. Dr. Gregory Schmunk, the president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, added, “I have never heard of this practice.”

    The second autopsy suggests that Kendrick Johnson took a blow to the right side of his neck that was “consistent with inflicted injury,” in contrast to the state’s finding of positional asphyxiation.

    Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine stated that Johnson’s death a closed case, and refused to comment. The U.S. Justice Department announced in September that it wouldn’t open a civil rights investigation. Still, federal prosecutors in south Georgia are considering commencing their own investigation. U.S attorney Michael Moore said, “This is about getting to the facts and the truth, and we want the Johnson family and the community of Valdosta to have confidence in the process. I am cognizant of time, and we continue to move the process along.”

    Kendrick’s mother Jacquelyn Johnson commented, “It’s unbearable, just about. The only thing that wakes you up in the morning is to just keep pushing.”

    Image via YouTube.

  • Whitney Houston: Cause Of Death Is Drowning, But Cocaine Played A Role

    The sudden and tragic death of pop star Whitney Houston saddened fans the world over last month after she was found unresponsive in her bathtub on the night before the Grammys. Her death was initially ruled as a drowning, but an autopsy report released today shows that cocaine use and heart disease were contributing factors to her death.

    The toxicology report also found marijuana, an anti-anxiety medication, a muscle relaxant and an anti-histamine in Houston’s system, according to L.A. County Coroner spokesman Craig Harvey. Those drugs were not found to play a role in her death.

    “We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure,” Patricia Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law and manager said today.

    In 2005 Houston and her family–husband and R&B singer Bobby Brown and their daughter Bobbi Christina–were the subject of a reality show on Bravo called “Being Bobby Brown” which showed a very different side of the star than her fans were used to seeing. Clearly under the influence of substances, her behavior was erratic and worrisome to those closest to her. But after checking into rehab in 2011 and making an effort to get clean, Houston had her friends and family convinced that the worst of her drug use was behind her, as Patricia Houston told Oprah Winfrey in an interview this month.

    The day after Houston’s death, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to the golden-voiced singer at the Grammy awards, creating a highlight of the night.