Whitney Houston Died From Accidental Drowning, Autopsy Finds

The LA County coroner says  Houston died from accidental drowning. They also found cocaine in her system and five other drugs. She also had coronary artery disease. She had “60 percent narrowing of the artery, suggesting a cardiac event,” said spokesperson Craig Harvey. Even if you haven’t watched “CSI” you can surmise that she did a hit of coke, had a heart attack and drowned in her bathtub on February 11th.

One source who was on the scene tells me that by the time 911 was called and security became involved, CPR wasn’t possible. “They tried it, but it seemed like she’d been dead for a while, longer than they say.”

There’s a weird jumble of information that comes along. Her sister in law, Pat Houston, told Oprah that it wasn’t drugs that killed Whitney. Remember when Pat said: “She was chasing a dream.” But now we know that dream was a nightmare that included coke, marijuana, Flexeril, and Xanax.

There’s the episode on Tuesday night, February 8th, when Whitney got into some kind of verbal fight with a contestant from “X Factor” in a nightclub. She emerged from the club, looking disheveled, with Pat Houston and her pal, Raffles van Exel. A picture of all three ran on TMZ on Wednesday, February 9th. Pat and Raffles each look upset. Pat admitted to Oprah that when she came out of the club, she was mad. What she didn’t explain: How the heck did Whitney Houston, a superstar, find herself in such a situation?

Business wise, this all becomes particularly sensitive regarding Whitney’s estate. Pat Houston went to court and had herself named executor, replacing the assigned executor. The estate is currently taking in a lot of money from sales of Houston’s records–far more than before Whitney died. Her albums are all over the charts. Insolvent in life, Whitney Houston is suddenly getting solid in death. But the people around her aren’t owning up to her actual lifestyle.

Oprah: Was drugs an issue for her before her death?

Pat Houston: I don’t think drugs were an issue for her before her death…High, absolutely not. Leading up [to her death]? I would say no.

Craig Harvey: The toxicology report suggests chronic [cocaine] use.

Coroner spokesperson Craig Harvey said on Thursday night that Whitney’s use of cocaine was “acute”, and that “cocaine was used just prior to her collapse.” Harvey said: “We know when she slipped under the water she was still alive.” But look at Pat Houston’s quote–and she was her manager, confidante, and sister-in-law.

Pat Houston to Oprah: “Drinking? She may have. She was loud sometimes, very much so.”

Craig Harvey said yesterday: “I don’t think there was anything really specific to alcohol found in the toxicology.”

There goes Pat Houston’s theory, right out the window.

Craig Harvey on when Whitney did the coke: “Probably some time in the immediate of her going into the bathtub, shower area and collapsing.”

But there was no cocaine found in the hotel room when police arrived. So it had to have been removed before the police arrived.

Of note: drugs and Whitney’s brothers are no strangers. Whitney’s brother, Pat’s husband, Gary Houston aka Gary Garland, was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina on March 7, 1996 for possession of crack cocaine. According to wire reports, he was found driving in a noted drug neighborhood with five rocks of crack cocaine and a crack pipe. He was charged with drug possession and resisting arrest. http://tinyurl.com/88mvhpr.

Whitney’s other brother, Michael, was arrested in August 2001, charged with possessing cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and being under the influence of drugs by police in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. It was one month before Whitney’s startlingly thin appearance at Michael Jackson’s Madison Square Garden show. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,622428,00.html

There’s more: I told you yesterday that Raffles van Exel has been fingered by someone at the scene as the probable photographer of pictures sold to TMZ– of Whitney’s bathtub and food tray. I told you that only Pat and Gary Houston, and van Exel, had access to Whitney’s room at that point. Everyone involved in the story claimed that Whitney was found in her bathtub by her assistant, Mary Jones. But when I ran into Raffles van Exel in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton, he was bawling his eyes out, telling everyone who’d listen, “I found Whitney.”  He then proceeded to bring an entourage into Clive Davis’s party and attempted to sit at Whitney’s table.

Van Exel was on the fourth floor when Bobbi Kristina was taken to the hospital. A picture was sold to TMZ of a body wrapped in a white sheet, on a gurney, with the claim that it was Whitney Houston. I told you yesterday that it was not Whitney, but Bobbi Kristina. My source says van Exel took the picture, that he was in the hallway of the fourth floor when Bobbi Kristina was taken out. That would have been about 90 minutes to two hours into the Clive Davis party.

What are we missing here? Someone has some explaining to do, that’s for sure. Whitney had been fine on the movie “Sparkle” after doing intensive rehab with Warren Boyd. She had three months in between the wrap up of filming “Sparkle” and her death. Obviously, someone was getting her coke. Who was it? And how could Pat Houston not have been aware, nor did she tell Oprah. that Whitney was a “chronic” coke user–something that could not have been hidden in their inner circle.