Heath Ledger's death was a tragic accident caused by a lethal overdose of prescription drugs. Now the feds want to know whether he got those medications legally.
A law enforcement source has confirmed to E! News that the Drug Enforcement Administration is in the midst of issuing subpoenas to the New York Medical Examiner's office, seeking Ledger's toxicology report as well as information about the case from the NYPD to determine whether an overabundance of legal narcotics was prescribed to the Brokeback Mountain star in violation of federal law.
The DEA declined to confirm whether it was pursuing such subpoenas. However, a spokesperson did say the agency takes all instances of unlawful distribution of pharmaceuticals seriously.
"We try to identify all means that people obtain legally prescription drugs, and especially if it's an overdose, we try to identify those prescribed medicines," said the DEA's Erin Mulvey.
Mulvey said the DEA seeks to identify any drugs that may have been "doctor-shopped," i.e., where the patient goes from doctor to doctor to score prescriptions or purchases prescription drugs from a rogue pharmacy/street dealer.
A rep for the city's medical examiner declined to confirm whether it had received a subpoena, but noted such requests are fairly routine.
Earlier Wednesday, the medical examiner announced the 28-year-old actor died as the result of "acute intoxication" brought on by the "combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine."
"We have concluded that the manner of death is accident resulting from the abuse of prescription medications," said spokeswoman Ellen Borakove. She declined to reveal the exact amount of the drugs found in Ledger's system.
Ledger was found dead in the bedroom of his rented SoHo apartment on Jan. 22. Police recovered six different prescription medications, including generic versions of the anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax , painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin and the sleeping aids Restoril and Unisom. Three of those medications were reportedly prescribed in Europe, and all were issued in his name.
After news of the toxicology report broke, the actor's family issued a statement noting that Ledger had not taken excessive amounts and that warned of the "hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage."