MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Prince was found dead of an accidental overdose of the powerful painkiller fentanyl on April 21, 2016. Here are some key moments in the weeks before his death, and the investigation that followed, based on information from interviews and court documents:
April 7, 2016: - Dr. Michael Schulenberg, a Minnesota primary care physician, sees Prince. Also, two Prince concerts in Atlanta are postponed. The artist said at the time he had fallen ill with the flu.
April 14 - Prince performs makeup concerts in Atlanta, apologizing to fans. He jokes about having been “under the weather,” giving a slight smile. His voice seems a bit weak at times while speaking, but sounds fine when singing during his 80-minute show.
April 14 - Schulenberg allegedly wrote out a prescription for the opioid oxycodone in the name of Prince’s friend, Kirk Johnson, with the intention that the drug go to Prince, according to a search warrant. Schulenberg’s attorney has disputed that.
April 14-April 15 - Prince falls ill on a flight home from Atlanta, and the plane makes an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois. Prince was found unconscious on the plane and was given two doses of naloxone, an antidote used to reverse suspected opioid overdoses. Johnson is on the flight and tells hospital staff that Prince might have taken Percocet, and one witness said Prince admitted to taking one to two pain pills. Prince refused treatment at a hospital and was released.
April 16 - Prince hosts a dance party at his Paisley Park complex and makes a brief appearance, showing off a new purple piano. “Wait a few days before you waste any prayers,” he tells fans.
April 20 - Prince is seen by Schulenberg again. One court document says Johnson had contacted the doctor to see Prince about hip pain, and Schulenberg prescribed medications. Johnson went to Walgreen’s to pick up Prince’s prescriptions and allegedly told investigators it was the first time he had done that for Prince.
April 20 - Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a California addiction specialist, is asked by Prince representatives to help the star. Kornfeld sends his son, a non-physician, on a red-eye flight to Minnesota, carrying a drug used to treat opiate addiction.
April 21 - Andrew Kornfeld and others find Prince, 57, unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park. Schulenberg arrived “on the death scene” at some point, according to a search warrant affidavit. He tells a detective he was there to drop off test results, and that he had prescribed medications that were to be filled at Walgreen’s.
April 28 - A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that investigators are looking into whether Prince died from a drug overdose and whether a doctor was prescribing him drugs in the weeks before his death.
June 2 - A Minnesota medical examiner announces that Prince died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller up to 50 times more potent than heroin. The autopsy report says Prince administered the drug himself.
Aug. 21 - An official close to the investigation tells the AP that some of the pills taken from Paisley Park were counterfeit drugs that contained fentanyl. Dozens of pills were found at the scene, including some that also contained the drug U-47700. The official also said Prince had no prescription for any controlled substances in the state of Minnesota in the 12 months before he died. Authorities were still investigating the source of the drugs, many of which Prince had with him during the April 15 stop in Moline.
April 17, 2017 - State search warrants and affidavits are unsealed, painting a picture of Prince as a man struggling with addiction to opioids. The documents say various pills were stashed in bottles around Paisley Park, and that Paisley Park, cellphone records of Prince’s associates, and Prince’s email accounts were searched. The documents shed no new light on how Prince got the fentanyl that killed him.
Feb. 7, 2018 - Attorneys for Prince’s siblings file a motion to view investigative data, saying their time is running out to file a potential lawsuit in Moline, Illinois. A motion to review autopsy data is filed the following day.
Feb. 9 - Carver County Attorney Mark Metz objects to release of data, saying the criminal investigation is ongoing.
March 22 - Metz issues a statement saying he’ll make a decision on charges “in the near future.”
March 26 - The AP publishes details from a confidential toxicology report that sheds light on just how much fentanyl Prince had in his system. The report says the concentration of fentanyl in Prince’s blood was 67.8 micrograms per liter and the level in his liver was 450 micrograms per kilogram - both well above what the report indicated could be toxic. Experts called the levels “exceedingly high.”
March 28 - A judge allows attorneys for Prince’s family to view investigative data under strict restrictions.
April 18 - Metz says he will make an April 19 announcement on whether anyone will be charged.
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