Prince death investigation now focusing on possible overdose and a doctor

LOS ANGELES -- Investigators are looking into whether Prince died of a prescription drug overdose and whether a doctor might have been involved, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Specifically, investigators want to know whether a doctor was onboard the plane that made an emergency landing in Illinois just days before Prince died, and whether that same doctor had been supplying him with drugs, according to the AP, citing a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official also told the AP that investigators are looking into which drugs were present on the plane, as well as his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Mashable's calls to the Minneapolis suburb's police department were not immediately returned Thursday.

The development is an eerie echo of Michael Jackson, whose death in 2009 at age 50 led to the imprisonment of Dr. Conrad Murray, his personal physician. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for supplying Jackson with the powerful sedative propofol, which is normally used for surgical anesthesia.

Prince was found dead April 21 at an elevator in his home, part of the Paisley Park music compound in Chanhassen. The week before, his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois less than an hour before its scheduled landing, and his reps said at the time that he was battling flu.

But several reports have since surfaced saying he had struggled with an addiction to Percocet, a powerful painkilling pill he was prescribed for hip problems.

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