The authorities investigating the death of Prince found prescription opioid medication on him, according to various news outlets on Wednesday, the same day court records showed a judge appointed a bank to safeguard the music legend's estate.
CNN reported that the pain- killing substance was found on Prince while the Star Tribune in Minneapolis said prescription pills were found where the musician died at the age of 57 last week at his home in suburban Minneapolis. Both reports were based on unidentified law enforcement sources.
Various news outlets, including CNN, also reported that local enforcement has requested the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to assist in the investigation.
Police have said they found no signs of suicide or obvious trauma in the death and that it could take weeks before autopsy results reveal how the performer died.
The Star Tribune said the authorities are trying to determine what role, if any, opioids may have played in Prince's death and whether the drugs found at the scene were prescribed to him.
The intensely private musician was found dead in an elevator at home on Thursday last week, shocking fans and prompting glowing tributes by fellow musicians.
Also on Wednesday, a judge in Carver County, Minnesota, acting on a request from Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, named Bremer Trust, National Association as special administrator to handle his estate, which is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The company will also determine the identity of his heirs, court documents said.
Meanwhile, The Revolution, the band that played with Prince during the Purple Rain era, say they plan to reunite and perform again "soon". In a video on social media on Tuesday, guitarist Wendy Melvoin said the band "have decided after spending three or four days together now grieving over the loss of Prince that we would like to come out and do some shows... see you soon".
The video, posted on the Facebook page of bassist Mark Brown (known as BrownMark), shows five people introducing themselves as Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Bobby Z, BrownMark and Matt Fink, the band members on the Purple Rain album.
But they were impostors, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis said, quickly replaced by the real musicians, "the kind of levity Prince himself was known for behind the scenes".
The Revolution had reunited on other occasions, including in 2003 and 2012, for benefit performances.
The band, formed in Prince's Minneapolis hometown, played with him from 1979 on albums and tours, before splitting up in the mid-1980s.
REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES
