Sorrow and mystery abound following the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown.
The aspiring singer had been hospitalized since a Jan. 31 medical emergency. After spending her last days in hospice care, she died on Sunday.
“She is finally at peace in the arms of God,” said family spokesman Kristen Foster. “We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months.”
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office had the sad and challenging task of performing an autopsy nearly six months after whatever happened that sent Brown to the hospital, and announced on Monday that the procedure found no obvious cause of death.
The inconclusive findings come several weeks after a civil suit lodged allegations of financial impropriety and physical harm against Brown’s onetime companion, Nick Gordon.
The lawsuit, filed last month in Fulton County Superior Court, claimed that Gordon “caused, among other things, substantial bodily harm” to Brown, wrested control over her finances and took money from her during the time she had been hospitalized.
Gordon’s lawyers have declined to comment. On Monday, his mother, Michele Gordon, issued a statement: “The passing of Bobbi Kristina is devastating to Nick and our family. Nick loved and cared for Krissi deeply, and he has suffered greatly each and every day they’ve been apart. Nick and our family are in mourning, and we ask that you respect our privacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Houstons and the Browns during this difficult time.”
The only child of the late Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown was 22. She was her mother’s sole heir.
Born in Livingston, N.J., Brown went to high school in Huntington Beach, Calif., and moved back to metro Atlanta following her mother’s death in February 2012, when she was 18.
Reality-show viewers first met her during the one-season series “Being Bobby Brown,” which aired on Bravo in 2005. Brown starred in another short-lived series, Lifetime’s “The Houstons: On Our Own,” after her mother’s death. She appeared in a few episodes of a locally shot Tyler Perry television show and hinted on social media that she was on the cusp of launching her own music career just days before her medical ordeal began.
“Let’s start this career up and moving out to you all quick shall we?” read one of her final Twitter posts, loaded with smiley face and musical instrument emoticons.
The Roswell Police Department responded when Brown was discovered unresponsive in a bathtub on Jan. 31; the incident was logged as a drowning call. The department has not issued much information about its subsequent investigation, but Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said his office also was examining the case.
No information has been released about memorial services, but celebrity tributes poured in throughout the day on Monday via social media.
“My prayers are with the entire Houston/Brown family,” posted actress Viola Davis. “May Bobbi Kristina rest peacefully with her mother in heaven.”
“Rest in heaven,” posted actress Taraji P. Henson.
“She seemed to be caught in the web of celebrity upon arrival,” posted “Selma” director Ava DuVernay. “Twenty-two years. A sad end. May the sister have peace now.”
“My heart is truly heavy,” rapper Missy Elliott posted. “May you rest in peace with your mommy. No parent ever thinks of burying their child before they go so extra prayers for Bobby Brown and Cissy Houston.”
Oprah Winfrey said simply, “Peace at last!”
