Prince got oxycodone prescription under friend's name, court files show
Search-warrant records also mention pamphlet for addiction recovery centre found in musician's home
A doctor who saw Prince in the days before he died prescribed the painkiller oxycodone to him under the name of Prince's friend to protect the musician's privacy, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The affidavits and search warrants were unsealed in Carver County District Court in Minnesota as the yearlong investigation into Prince's death continues.
The documents show authorities searched the musician's estate, known as Paisley Park, as well as cellphone records of his associates and his own accounts to try to determine how he obtained fentanyl, the synthetic drug 50 times more powerful than heroin that killed him.
The court records don't reveal answers, but do shed light on Prince's struggle with addiction to prescription opioids in the days before he died. Oxycodone, the generic name for the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not listed as a cause of Prince's death. But it is part of a family of painkillers driving an overdose crisis and addiction epidemic, according to public health authorities.
- Read the court documents:
Receipt of seized items
Affidavit to access Gmail account
Affidavit to search computer
Affidavit for bodyguard's cellphone records
Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park on April 21, 2016.
Just six days earlier, Prince fell ill on a plane and made an emergency stop in Illinois as he was returning home from a concert in Atlanta. First responders revived him with two doses of a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
A search of Prince's home yielded numerous pills in various containers. Some were in prescription bottles for Kirk Johnson, Prince's longtime friend and associate. Some pills in other bottles were marked "Watson 853," a label used for a drug that is a mix of acetaminophen and hydrocodone.
Last August, an official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that at least one of those pills tested positive for fentanyl, meaning the pill was counterfeit and obtained illegally. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Attempt at rehab
In addition to the dozens of pills recovered, authorities also found a pamphlet for an addiction recovery centre in California, the documents unsealed Monday show. The day before Prince died, Paisley Park staffers contacted the California addiction clinic as they were trying to get Prince help.
One affidavit says Michael Todd Schulenberg, a family doctor who saw Prince April 7, 2016, and again on April 20, acknowledged to authorities that he prescribed oxycodone for Prince the same day as the emergency plane landing "but put the prescription in Kirk Johnson's name for Prince's privacy."
Authorities also searched Johnson's cellphone records, to see who he was communicating with in the month before Prince died.
Messages left with lawyers for Schulenberg and Johnson weren't immediately returned Monday.
Investigators haven't interviewed either Johnson or Schulenberg since the hours after Prince died, an official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
While authorities have the power to ask a grand jury to investigate and issue subpoenas for testimony, that step hasn't been taken, the official said.
Prince did not have a cellphone, and authorities searched multiple email accounts that belonged to him, as they tried to determine who he was communicating with and where he got the drugs that killed him, according to the search warrants. The search warrants don't reveal the outcome of the email searches.
The documents say some of the drugs in Prince's bedroom were in a suitcase with the name "Peter Bravestrong" on it. Police believe Bravestrong was an alias that Prince used when he travelled. The suitcase also contained lyrics for the song U Got the Look that appeared to be in Prince's handwriting.