Nation IN BRIEF : TENNESSEE : Pathologist Says Drugs Killed Elvis

A pathologist who helped perform the autopsy on Elvis Presley said the singer died of drug use and not heart disease. Dr. Eric Muirhead has remained largely silent on the subject in the 13 years since Presley died, although he has been described in the past as privately disagreeing with a medical examiner’s finding that Presley died of heart disease. In an interview in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Muirhead said a deadly mix of drugs killed Presley. Various media accounts that the drugs in the entertainer’s body were sedatives and tranquilizers are true, he said.