An autopsy has ruled that rapper-singer Juice WRLD died of an overdose of oxycodone and codeine, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.
Juice WRLD, born Jarad Anthony Higgins, died early Dec. 8, 2019 at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after suffering cardiac arrest at Midway Airport. He was 21.
Autopsy results were pending for weeks as investigators conducted additional tests. His death was ruled accidental.
A police source told the Sun-Times that a friend of Higgins told authorities the rapper ingested several Percocet pills prior to his death, possibly to conceal them from local and federal police officials at Midway.
Officers were called to the airport at 1:34 a.m. Dec. 8 to assist federal law enforcement with “a private jet arriving at the airport which contained a large amount of narcotics,” Chicago police have said.
According to police, Juice WRLD suffered a seizure during the search, and a Homeland Security officer administered a shot of Narcan, which is often used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
On the private jet, authorities found 41 bags believed to contain marijuana, six bottles of suspected liquid codeine and 70 pounds of marijuana.
So far, no one’s been charged with drug possession.
“No one has claimed ownership of the drugs, and I haven’t heard any updates,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Wednesday. Federal prosecutors deferred the case to local law enforcement, he said.
However, two of Juice WRLD’s security guards were charged with unlawful gun possession after three handguns were found on the plane.
Juice WRLD was born in Chicago and raised in south suburban Homewood, graduated in 2017 from Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School after gaining a reputation as a talented musician.
