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Juice Wrld’s cause of death undetermined after initial autopsy, police reveal further details
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 11 December 2019
An initial autopsy has failed to determine what caused the death of rapper Juice Wrld, real name Jarad Higgins, at the weekend. However, police have confirmed that he was taken ill as officers searched the plane he had been travelling on for drugs and weapons.
In a statement, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said that further “studies are required to establish the cause and manner of death for 21 year old Jarad A Higgins”. It said that tests already conducted include “cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology” but that “the cause and manner of death are pending at this time”.
The rapper had a seizure after disembarking from an aeroplane in a private hangar at Chicago’s Midway Airport at around 2am on Sunday morning. He was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police in Chicago have reiterated that they do not suspect foul play. However, they have released further details about the incident, which began before the rapper collapsed. Authorities where already searching luggage that had been taken off the plane when Higgins “began convulsing [and] going into a seizure”, a police spokesperson said.
An FBI agent on the scene administered Narcan, a drug used to treat people thought to be overdosing on opioids. His girlfriend had seemingly told agents that the rapper had been taking Percocet, an opioid painkiller. TMZ reports that he may have swallowed several pills in order to avoid them being found by the authorities during their search.
Also according to TMZ, the rapper’s flying arrangements have been of interest to the FBI since at least November, when another search of his and his entourage’s luggage was carried out. It’s not clear if anything was found on that occasion.
However, in their statement yesterday, police confirmed that, during this search, the group – consisting of Higgins and around twelve others – was found to be carrying 41 vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, two 9 mm pistols, a .40-caliber pistol, a high-capacity ammunition magazine and metal-piercing bullets.
So far, the rapper’s bodyguards – Christopher Long and Henry Dean – have been charged with weapons offences. Police said that they have not yet ascertained who the drugs belonged to.
