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Alcohol Killed Amy Winehouse, Coroner Rules

<p>Amy Winehouse in 2007.</p>
Matt Dunham
/
AP

Amy Winehouse in 2007.

There were no illegal drugs in singer Amy Winehouse's system when she died on July 23, a British coroner reported today.

Instead, the troubled 27-year-old suffered "death by misadventure" — a drinking binge.

The coroner says Winehouse had "five times ... the legal drunk-driving limit" worth of alcohol in her blood, The Associated Press reports. It adds that "Police Detective Inspector Les Newman, who was called after a security guard found Winehouse, said empty vodka bottles were scattered around her bedroom."

At today's inquest, The Guardian says, it was also reported that Winehouse "hit the bottle after being dry for three weeks. ... The amount of alcohol in her system could have stopped her breathing and sent her into a coma."

NPR Music's Winehouse archive is here.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.