The Drug Enforcement Administration has launched an investigation into rapper Lil Peep’s death in hopes of finding the person who gave him fentanyl before he died of an overdose.
The 21-year-old rapper, whose real name was Gustav Åhr, died November 15 on his tour bus in Tucson, Arizona due to ‘combined toxic effects of fentanyl and alprazolam’ – the latter a generic term for Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety.
Officials are interested in a series of texts and Twitter messages sent by a woman named Mariah Bons, who saw Lil Peep before he died, according to TMZ.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has launched an investigation into rapper Lil Peep’s death. DEA officials are believed to be interested in messages sent by Mariah Bons (right with the rapper) in the hours before rapper Lil Peep was found dead on November 15
In one message, Mariah said that Lil Peep ‘wouldn’t wake up’, and in another she said GBC – a nickname for Lil Peep ‘was high af’ because of her and a friend
In one message, she told people in a group Twitter chat: ‘Gbc [Lil Peep] high af because of me and my friend lol.’
In an earlier message, she said Lil Peep was ‘passed the f*** out’ and ‘wouldn’t wake up’ when she tried to get him to talk to her brother on the phone.
Another in the group said that it was ‘strange’ that the rapper wouldn’t wake up, because usually he does so ‘easily’.
Bons left the group chat shortly after the conversation, and hours later, Lil Peep was found dead from an overdose.
The medical examiner’s office has ruled Lil Peep’s death as accidental.
At the time of his death, Lil Peep also had recreational drugs including cocaine and marijuana – and prescription medications including Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, Oxymorphone and Tramadol – in his system TMZ previously reported.
Open book: The rapper was candid about his mental health, drug use and sexuality. He was pictured in France in June
On the mic: The rapper was snapped performing in Anaheim, California in September
The New York native did not test positive for alcohol.
The combination of Fentanyl and Xanax was particularly lethal, as medical experts say blending the two can result in severe respiratory damage, with consequences including a coma or death.
The rap artist’s brother Karl ‘Oskar’ Åher, 23, told People in the wake of his death that he was shocked by his sibling’s passing, noting that Lil Peep ‘was not struggling’ amid the period when he died.
‘It was an accident, it really was an accident: He was super happy with where he was in life,’ Oskar said.
In January, Lil Peep – who was romantically-linked with actress Bella Thorne for a time – opened up to the outlet Pitchfork about his ongoing battle with depression.
‘I suffer from depression and some days I wake up and I’m like, ‘F***, I wish I didn’t wake up,” he said. ‘I don’t express that side of myself on social media.
Sad day: Fans congregated in Long Beach, New York on Sunday to pay tribute to the rapper
Mournful: The rap artist’s name Gus, short for Gustav, was written in the sand over a heart on the gloomy day
Remembrance: Lil Peep’s mother Liza Womack spoke to mourners at the assembly
‘That’s the side of myself that I express through music. That’s my channel for letting all that s*** out.’
Oskar told the publication that the Awful Things performer ingested a pill that could have been laced with a lethal substance, causing his premature passing.
‘We have heard there was some sort of substance he did not expect to be involved in the substance he was taking,’ Oskar said. ‘He thought he could take what he did, but he had been given something and he didn’t realize what it was.’
The rapper was honored by fans in Long Beach, New York last month at a memorial service.
Lil Peep built his career on homemade mixtapes released on the audio sharing platform SoundCloud.
Millions of online listens led to the August release of his first full-length album, ‘Come Over When You’re Sober, Part 1.’