LOS ANGELES — Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley, died of small bowel obstruction, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office ruled.
Presley died Jan. 12 after she was rushed to the hospital in Southern California, according to her mother, who announced her death later that day. She was 54.
The cause of death was stated as “sequelae,” or aftereffect, “of small bowel obstruction.” No additional causes or significant conditions were listed.
The manner of death was determined to be natural, according to the medical examiner’s office.
An autopsy report obtained Thursday by NBC News said the obstruction was “in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago.” The issue is a known longterm complication of that type of surgery, the report said.
Presley also had “therapeutic levels” of the pain reliever oxycodone and trace amounts of other substances in her blood, which did not contribute to her death, the report said.
Presley had complained about abdominal pain in the months before her death and the morning of, before she was found unresponsive at her home, according to the autopsy report and a coroner investigator’s narrative.
Presley, also a singer and songwriter, was interred next to her son, Benjamin Keough, at Graceland, her father’s mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, where she lived as a child with her father, who died in 1977.
Her estate and will have been at the center of a family dispute involving her mother, Priscilla Presley, and a daughter, Riley Keough.
The dispute was settled in May. Details of the settlement were not made public.
Claire Cardona contributed.
