Music superstar Prince died two years ago because he thought he was taking the common painkiller Vicodin when, unbeknownst to him, it was laced with deadly fentanyl, authorities said Thursday."He thought he was taking Vicodin and not fentanyl," said Carver County Attorney Mark Metz at a press conference in Prince's home county.
Just short of two years after Prince's death, Metz announced that no one will be charged with a crime in connection with his death because there's no evidence showing how he got fake Vicodin laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, and no evidence he knew that's what it was.
Why no charges are being filed
Metz, the top prosecutor in the suburban Minneapolis county that is home to Prince's studio/home complex Paisley Park, told reporters the results of a "painstaking and thorough" two-year investigation found that Prince did not know he had become addicted to fentanyl and neither did anyone around him. "To actively charge a crime requires probable cause and a reasonable likelihood of conviction.
The bottom line is that we simply do not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime related to Prince's death," Metz said.
(USA TODAY)