Prince’s Paisley Park Museum Opens to Tourists
UPDATE 2: Search warrants and other documents pertaining to the investigation into Prince‘s death from a fatal drug overdose will remain sealed until April 17th, 2017, Minneapolis’ Fox 9 reports. The original order, filed days after Prince’s death, was set to expire Monday but was extended October 20th. According to the new court order, investigators feared that making the documents public could “create a substantial risk of a search or a related search to become unsuccessful or severely hamper an ongoing investigation.”
It continues: “There are a number of potential witnesses who have yet to be interviewed. Information obtained as a result of this search warrant is not generally known to these potential witnesses or the public at large. This data is important ‘hold back’ information that cannot be released so as to protect the integrity of pending interviews and investigation.”
Investigators are currently examining whether doctors illegally prescribed the pop star opioids or whether the Fentanyl that killed him came from black market sources. The sealed documents could be released sooner than April 17th if a criminal investigation is opened.
UPDATE: This afternoon, the Chanhassen, Minnesota City Council announced Paisley Park will grant temporary permits to open the museum for tours on select days. Paisley Park will continue to work closely with the council on their traffic and zoning concerns.
Prince‘s Paisley Park studio complex and home was slated to open as a museum for tourists. Earlier today, the Chanhassen City Council said that the opening would be delayed. The council has amended its decision to allow people into the studio who already purchased tickets.
Earlier today, the council requested more time to study the museum’s effect on traffic, parking and public and pedestrian safety. Chanhassen is located outside Minneapolis and St. Paul, and council member Bethany Tjornhom said the small city needed time to decide whether it wanted to be a “tourist town” that drew 600,000 visitors a year.
Amidst the scuffle over the Paisley Park museum, investigators are still looking into Prince’s fatal drug overdose in April. Specifically, investigators are focusing on whether doctors illegally prescribed the pop star opioids or whether the Fentanyl that killed him came from a black market source, according to the Associated Press.
Fentanyl can be more potent than heroin, and though it can be obtained by prescription as a legal painkiller, an official close to the investigation told the AP in August that Prince did not have any prescriptions for any controlled substances in Minnesota in the past year. Investigators have also uncovered other evidence that supports the theory that the Fentanyl came from an illegal source, including counterfeit drugs taken from Paisley Park that were marked as a generic version of Vicodin but contained Fentanyl.