Houston cause of death 'not known' (From Gazette)

Houston cause of death 'not known'

5:39pm Monday 13th February 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2011

US officials have said it is too soon to determine whether prescription drugs were involved in Whitney Houston's death.

Website TMZ reported that the star's family were told by Los Angeles County Coroner officials that prescription medication mixed with alcohol - and not drowning - appear to be to blame.

But Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said that it was too early to determine what caused the 48-year-old singer to be discovered dead in her bathtub in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Asked about the reports, said to have come from family sources, he said: "I'm the one that talked to the family and I did not provide that information."

He confirmed Houston was found in the bath, but said it was too soon to determine the cause of death before the results of toxicology tests.

Mr Winter said Houston's family are "making arrangements" to have the singer's body returned to them following the completion of the autopsy.

He said in a press conference: "I don't know when the family is going to have her body. They are making arrangements. Sometimes it takes a couple of days." He added: "The autopsy has been completed, there is no hold on the body."

The singer was found by a member of her entourage in her hotel room on Saturday, just hours before she was supposed to appear at a pre-Grammy gala.

The 54th annual Grammy awards opened with a prayer and standing ovation to the Bodyguard star, who herself won a clutch of six prestigious Recording Academy gongs over a turbulent career marred by spells of drug addiction.

Meanwhile, Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was taken to a Los Angeles hospital by ambulance and later released. A source close to the family said she was treated for stress and anxiety.