Prince investigation evidence released to public

Data made available includes death scene images and CCTV footage from the day before he died

The “majority” of evidence from the investigation into Prince‘s death has been released to the public.

Prince died on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57. It was announced this week that no charges would be made in relation to the music icon’s death.

Following the announcement, the Carver County sheriff’s office in Minnesota has released 15GB of data – the “vast majority” of evidence – to the public under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.

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This includes images of Prince’s body from the death scene, CCTV footage of the star visiting a doctor’s office the day before he died and interviews with individuals close to the singer who say they had been concerned about his health in the days leading to his death.

There’s also photos from inside Prince’s Paisley Park vault and a Sinéad O’Connor police interview from May 2016 where she alleged that Prince had a history of drug use and violence towards women.

“I’ve seen him in very frightening conditions after using drugs,” O’Connor told police, adding: “He had been extremely violent to a number of women in his life, including myself, and several women were put in the hospital while Prince was under the effects of these medications.”

“Minnesota has a very open and transparent process as it relates to data—even criminal investigative reports and photos of crime scenes,” the County Attorney’s Office says of the data release.

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Shortly after his death, it was confirmed that Prince had died from an opioid overdose. The star was found to have fentanyl in his system – which is 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Carver County attorney Mark Metz said on Thursday (April 19) that the musician had suffered the overdose due to taking counterfeit pills, which contained the painkiller.

“Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him,” Metz said. However, no evidence showing how the star got hold of the pills has been found, meaning no criminal charges will be filed in the case.

Physician Michael Schulenberg, who saw Prince twice in the weeks before he died, agreed to pay $30,000 (£21,228) to the court to settle allegations that he had prescribed drugs to another person in the knowledge that it would be Prince who would take them. He did not admit liability as part of the deal.

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