An autopsy on wrestling star Chyna revealed she died this spring from a deadly combination of muscle relaxants, painkillers and alcohol, according to a coroner’s report.
Toxicology tests indicated that Chyna, whose real name was Joan Marie Laurer, had ingested a mix of alcohol and diazepam, which is marketed as Valium; nordazepam; oxycodone; oxymorphone; and temazepam, a drug used to treat insomnia, according to a Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner report.
Chyna’s mother told investigators that her daughter “was an alcoholic and drank cheap wine, and was addicted to prescription drugs,” the report said. The 46-year-old had a medical history of drug abuse.
The former World Wrestling Entertainment star was found on April 20 by her manager lying in bed at her home in Redondo Beach, next to her cell phone, iPad, clothes, pillows and toys, the autopsy report said. Her manager, Anthony Anzaldo, had not heard from her since she last tweeted on April 17 and decided to check on her.
The Redondo Beach Police Department had reported Chyna’s death as a possible accidental overdose or natural death.
When Chyna was found in bed, there was a pool of blood and foam coming out of her nose and mouth on the pillow under her face. According to the coroner’s report, decomposition had just begun.
She was lying on her right side, her head resting on a pile of pillows. According to the report, she wore a black tank top and multi-colored patterned pants.
In her bedroom, according to the autopsy report, investigators found several bottles of prescription drugs, a metal pipe resembling a cigarette, a green plastic grinder, a small wooden box and a blue glass pipe on top of a nightstand. In a bottom drawer of the same bedside table, investigators found a blister pack of pills in an envelope. Another pack of pills, which was empty, was found near the bedside table.
Loose pills were found on the floor of her bedroom and on a dining table.
Days before her body was found, Chyna had posted an incoherent and at times incoherent video to YouTube. She also posted a smiling selfie to her Instagram account on April 17 that appeared to have been taken in her bedroom.
“Happy Sunday my lovelies, I hope you all enjoy your day with your family,” she wrote. “Be happy, love one another and live in peace!
Anzaldo told The Times that Chyna had been taking the prescription pills over the course of three weeks but not using them properly, he said. Her death was the result of an accidental overdose, Anzaldo insisted, not suicide.
According to Anzaldo, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born forensic pathologist and expert on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, plans to examine Chyna’s brain.
He said the doctor’s findings could provide insight into a link between the degenerative brain disease and sports athletes whose heads are repeatedly exposed to blunt force trauma.
veronica.rocha@WhatsNewDay.com
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UPDATE:
1 o’clock in the afternoon: This article has been updated with additional details about Chyna’s death.
This article was originally published at 12:25 p.m
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