Luke Bell’s Cause of Death Revealed by Medical Examiner
Like too many of the great country music poets before him, Luke Bell died way too young due to the devastating ailment of the Lovesick Blues.
Unfortunately though, that’s not one of the boxes that medical examiners are given to check off when they turn in their autopsy reports. So for Luke Bell, the story is being told differently. And similar to the announcement of his death, the cause of Luke Bell’s passing has become the story du jour of the day, with hundreds of media outlets and tabloids who never took the time to pay attention to Luke Bell or his music while he was still living being more than happy to take full advantage of the news of his death.
As Luke Bell’s family stated upon his upon his passing on August 29th,
“Unfortunately Luke suffered from the disease of mental illness, which progressed after his father’s death in 2015. Luke was supported through his disease by a community of loving family and friends. Despite this, he was unable to receive the help he needed to ease his pain. Our hearts go out to the millions of people affected by mental illness who, like us, understand the devastating disappointment of a system that consistently fails to provide caring solutions to those who suffer.”
Luke Bell went missing on Saturday, August 20th in Tucson, Arizona. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, this wasn’t the first time Luke had run off, sometimes disappearing for weeks or months at a time. But this time felt different since he’d been doing much better recently. So on August 28th, close friend and fellow musician Matt Kinman publicly put the word out for people to be on the lookout for Luke. He was officially found the next day.
There does happen to be one good reason that the nature of Luke Bell’s death is of public interest beyond morbid curiosity. If foul play had been involved, if he’d been the victim of an assault, etc., then it would be imperative to know this so the perpetrators could be sought and brought to justice. The press also plays a role in this to inform the public, and to hold public officials to account. But that is not what the medical examiner ruled in Luke Bell’s case.
According to the autopsy report performed by Pima County medical examiner Gregory L. Hess, M.D., “In consideration of the known circumstances surrounding this death, the available medical history, and the examination of the remains, the cause of death is ascribed to fentanyl intoxication. The manner of death is an accident.”
Luke Bell was found by a passer by in a shaded area of a parking lot near North Craycroft and East Grant roads in Tucson. His official date of death has been revised to August 26th. An important note from the autopsy report that many aren’t reporting is that when the medical examiner looked at Luke, he had defibrillator patches on his chest. That means that when paramedics arrived, they did try to revive him. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.
Luke Bell isn’t just the latest victim of the Lovesick Blues. He’s one of a countless many who’ve succumbed to the fentanyl epidemic. Often, those who die due to the drug did not know they were taking it. Either they thought they were taking something else, or sometimes, the ingestion is purely accidental, or their first time.Fentanyl addicts are the ones who know how to avoid overdose. Street dealers prey on individuals like Luke Bell who are suffering from mental health issues, and try to get them addicted.
The story of Luke Bell now comes to a close, but the issues he faced in life do not. Mental health issues continue to be on the rise. Fentanyl is the #1 cause of death for Americans age 18 to 45, like Luke Bell. And until the American society is ready to face these issues head on, Luke Bell won’t be the last to face these issues, and it won’t be the last time country music faces them either.
Luke Bell was laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Christ Episcopal Church in Cody, Wyoming on September 9th. He was 32.
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Those who wish to donate in Luke’s memory can donate to the Luke Bell Memorial Fund via the Christ Episcopal Church, or they are being asked to donate to Music Health Alliance.
September 20, 2022 @ 5:35 pm
As someone who has been answering 911 for 14 years, the fentanyl overdose calls are especially alarming. Not only are they increasing at a startling rate, but the chances of a person actually living through them seem to be less all the time. Constantly hearing the screams and desperate pleas of the loved ones who call for emergency services is heartbreaking.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:11 pm
For the record, the title of this article was changed. I guess some found it cheesy, or somehow in poor taste. I was just trying to be as respectful to Luke Bell and his family as possible. But I also didn’t want it to be a distraction from the article itself which I stand behind, so I just went with a more standard title instead.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:17 pm
Pretty crazy. I’d be interested to know what he thought he was taking, or what he was taking that was cut. That stuff is ending up in coke everywhere (which was JTE’s demise), but it’s also pressed into fake pain pills, and obviously added to heroin. It’s best to just stay away from any of that stuff and is definitely more dangerous to take than in the past. Sometimes I don’t wonder if everything should just be legal (doses would be accurate), then use the money from the drug war for drug education and recovery. I don’t know any addicts that want to stay addicted. I know that’s an awful idea, but it can’t get much worse.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:21 am
Your right about the legalization of drugs. At least the the dosages would be safe. I don’t remember these deaths when doctors were handing our pain medication like candy.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:18 pm
It is a crisis that has been completely and deliberately overshadowed by COVID coverage.
The best way to handle addiction is to never engage in the first place.
Another country music artist gone too soon.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:43 am
the thing that everyone could get (COVID) overshadowed the other thing? lol.
meanwhile in my neck of the woods, they installed a vending machine to offer free narcan to help combat this and all the maga were very upset that they tax dollars were being used to help people and save lives.
September 21, 2022 @ 8:30 am
And the fentanyl crisis has killed more healthy young people than COVID has.
Yet, COVID was treated as the new Spanish flu or bubonic plague when in reality the vast majority of victims were either grossly overweight or ancient. A completely mishandled on purpose crisis.
But certain groups got what they wanted out of COVID. To the destruction of the nation.
September 21, 2022 @ 9:19 am
My primary (professional) pre-occupation is overdose mortality and I certainly agree that we are in a crisis. That said, I find your comment really strange. We lost 1 million Americans to Covid in 2021. It overshadowed everything because it was a massive and novel phenomena. In 2021, we lost 80,000 Americans to opioid overdose – an increase of 10,000 and a horribly large number, especially when it’s people you know, love, worked with, etc…
September 21, 2022 @ 9:41 am
the comment is not so strange when you take into account the absurd amount of people who think COVID was a hoax and a nefarious plot to do… something.
idk it is hard to keep track of all these shifting plots and conspiracies. are we still on bill gates vaccine microchips? 5g? something turning the frogs gay?
September 21, 2022 @ 4:13 pm
To be fair, he did say “healthy young people”. Less than 18,000 people under age 40 died from COVID in 2021 according to the CDC.
I’m 38 and I don’t know anyone personally who died from COVID but I know at least 5 who have died from drug use and addiction.
I hope sad stories like this bring more attention to the issue and hopefully we can ignore politics and come up with solutions.
September 21, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
Don’t forget the largest transfer of wealth from workers to the wealthy occurred during COVID lockdowns. I don’t think it was planned, but they sure did take advantage of the situation to hurt the regular dude.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:22 pm
Damn it to hell
September 20, 2022 @ 6:29 pm
All of the things that make you fatter, dumber, deader, lazier, weaker, more servile, less virile, more dependent, less irascible, less vocal, more subservient, more despondent, more depressed, and less fit are what is allowed, promoted, celebrated, elevated, required, demanded, forced, stipulated, compelled and ordered.
Nothing to see here. Must be an unfortunate coincidence of the technocracy we all signed up for. Just move along.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:44 am
you’re saying fentanyl is being promoted, celebrated, elevated, required, demanded, forced, stipulated, compelled and ordered? like, what?!
September 21, 2022 @ 8:15 am
It is certainly being allowed and promoted. Oxycontin nee Fentanyl is wonderful for the oligarchs. It kills off a lot of the middle Americans that they haven’t yet been able to kill off in endless, pointless wars, despair relating to outsourcing, destruction of the manufacturing base, undermining of the family unit, community, school, church, etc. It kills them off young, so many haven’t reproduced yet. All of these things work hand-in-hand toward the common goal of eliminating the historical Remnant.
September 21, 2022 @ 8:32 am
RD,
The useful idiots never wake up until they are standing in front of the firing squad after their services are no longer required.
Even then, many stay dumb.
See the French Revolution and the Communist takeovers.
September 21, 2022 @ 9:04 am
it’s honestly astounding some people are able to even function when they live such paranoid lives.
but if we’re diving into the oxycontin debacle its pretty clear the intention was not to kill off the middle class (lol) but instead to make massive amount of profit, death being an unintended but acceptable byproduct. profits are the root cause, just look at the train strike or amazon – billionaires are willing to work you to death to make more money. no bathroom breaks or time off to see a doctor.
it’s nothing nefarious. it’s not a secret plot against the middle class. it’s right out there in the open. it’s money.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:44 pm
A painful reminder of the epidemic that is taking so many lives. Mental health issues in combination with drug issues only make the situation worse.
Another sad ending.
September 20, 2022 @ 6:46 pm
“And until the American society is ready to face these issues head on, Luke Bell won’t be the last to face these issues, and it won’t be the last time country music faces them either. “
We allow it to pour over our southern border. Most of it is made in China. We are being attacked and we don’t even realize it. America reacts slowly while China play the long game.
September 20, 2022 @ 7:32 pm
I heard those stats today of fentanyl being the leading cause of death in 18-45 year olds. Our federal government (BOTH parties) have done close to nothing to address this problem. This stuff is not to be trifled with.
September 21, 2022 @ 8:34 am
Our parties are run by China and paid off. The end goal is the One World Government.
They don’t want to fix the border.
But ultimately, each person needs to say no to drugs. That is what it takes. You can’t be an addict if you don’t take.
September 20, 2022 @ 7:36 pm
The leading cause of death for men ages 18 to 45, yet a footnote (if even) on any major news outlet. I lost an uncle to that poison, the man who taught me to fish and introduced me to country music, and I miss him every day.
Our society is ill. Thanks for sharing this and shedding a light on the epidemic. Luke Bell was a tremendous talent.
September 21, 2022 @ 12:39 am
Still amazed at the following on national/international media noticed when his death was announced. Denver (understandable – neighbor) but FOX News, Liberty Daily, UK Daily Mail etc sticking with the story yet…
Folks who wouldn’t give him half a graph for a new release or tour date…
September 21, 2022 @ 3:29 am
We are a society circling the drain. As the drugs pour across the border, public schools and parents are creating generation after generation of weak kids. Public schools are fixated on talking about mental illness to the point it’s almost suggesting to kids that they have something wrong with them. My wife is a teacher, and schools administrators and guidance counselors are telling kids they have anxiety, and they need counseling. This is causing kids to feel like something is wrong with them. There’s no longer any attempt to help kids develop mental toughness and to help them understand the world Is a tough place where bad things happen daily. Our kids, from the earliest grades, are being told that they deserve to live in a world where everyone tells them how awesome they are and they should never have to face hardships. Then, our kids get a bit older, and the first time someone treats them poorly or life becomes hard, they can’t deal with it. This causes them to melt down and do things, like hard drugs, that end up killing them, or they kill themselves. It’s sad that we’ve gotten to this point so fast. There’s a book titled, “The Coddling of the American Mind” that addresses part of this problem. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I do think China and others might see this as an opportunity to further weaken us by sending massive amounts of drugs like fentanyl across our border.
September 21, 2022 @ 5:33 am
Don’t understand how it could be coming across the border. According to the Vice President the border is closed!
September 21, 2022 @ 8:46 am
Just like her brain. Seriously, I truly hope the next administration charges the current one with everything they possibly can, because nothing short of treason is happening There is obviously a concerted effort to dismantle and destroy our country from within…from ridiculous open borders and allowing drugs to pour in, keeping kids out of school and poisoning their minds with CRT, equating parental rights to terrorism, destroying our energy sector and the economy, driving inflation to drive their agenda, forcing a fake climate crisis upon everyone instead of a logical transition, weaponizing the FBI and justice department against political opponents, forcing citizens to pay the student loans of others, raising taxes and funding an inflated, armed IRS, allowing men to steal womens sports, allowing illegal access to the White House for foreign governments and lining their family pockets, deferring to China and Russia, decimating our military with woke policies and vaccine mandates, and that’s just for starters. Every single day, it’s something new. God help us in November and 2024….because we need it. We HAD a strong military, a secure border, a great economy, energy independence and low inflation. There was still work to do, but times were good. The snowflakes whined about mean tweets and this is what we’ve ended up with. We’re being sold out for an evil, new world order cult, and we have to stand up now and stop it. There are thousands and thousands more Luke Bells in our future if we don’t.
September 21, 2022 @ 8:50 am
This is way beyond the subject of this article. Once again I strongly request individuals cease from veering into divisive political subjects in these comments sections. Please understand this is a country music website. I do understand that sometimes there are subjects that are tied to political issues, but this is not a forum to vent your political opinions or frustrations. Please refrain from this activity, or comments will be deleted, and/or the comments section shut down.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:48 pm
I apologize.. I never should have vented my feelings over Luke Bell’s death, in response to an article specifically mentioning the overall issue (fentanyl) that ultimately led to his death…even if it’s a serious issue for everyone in America. I do understand free speech is frowned upon. My bad, Comrade.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:59 pm
Comments talking about the fentanyl issue are fine. Ones veering into Critical Race Theory, The FBI, the IRS, Russia, etc. are not. They are clearly off topic. And the same people who continue to disrespect my requests to not veer off topic and have cost me many readers, they are the ones that complain about free speech issues, even when their comments have been posted verbatim, like yours was. It’s a lose, lose for me. Folks who don’t want to see off-topic comments stop commenting, and stop reading. And the people leaving off-topic comments call me a communist for making a simple request. And that is why the time is coming very soon when NOBODY will be able to comment, and then we all lose.
September 21, 2022 @ 7:28 pm
I mean, it has come to the point where I see a SCM headline, read the article, and muse “Hmmm, I wonder how THIS of all things is going to devolve into a political debate in the comments section,” and lo and behold!
Mutual love of music, and especially the tragic death of a great talent in our mutually loved genre *should* be a unifier across the political compass.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:36 am
It ain’t China’s fault…. we need look no further than a mirror and there should be a giant one placed in the District(s) of Corruption in this country.
Follow the money, see the agenda… the money of Fiat Currency… exploited on BOTH sides of a non-existent, except to voters aisle…
ALL empires fall and this one will be no different… the causes are the same… history proves it… but our alleged leaders (which is a lie as “we the people” are supposed to be the leaders of the SERVANTS who serve in the public interest) are blind, or stupid… I’ll go with the latter as no one can be as blind as they pretend to be.
from the song, Me and Mine (Lamentations);
what are you gonna do when the God you’re prayin to up and goes missin, leavin a trail of unpaid bills, broken homes and opioid addiction
September 21, 2022 @ 8:38 am
Lamentations is a naive song (with a few good points) sung by a hypocrite. The singer himself supports the same policies and politicians that led to those problems. Then he blames God.
Hypocrisy.
September 21, 2022 @ 12:30 pm
Naive? LOL you’re naive if you believe he blamed anyone. He merely pointed out some facts, one of which was; neither the left or the right are gonna fight for those in between thats the way things really are in the American Dream…
Subscribing to the left/right paradigm makes you, a voter, either a tool or an enemy of the Mono-Party-
The left/right paradigm itself is just a tool to ensure “we the people” remain properly divided… THINK! Unless you’re afraid to.
Think of all the promises made
Then think of all the lies we’ve been told…. by BOTH sides of the Mono-Party…
September 21, 2022 @ 9:58 am
Let me guess, we need to abolish The Federal Reserve….
September 21, 2022 @ 12:32 pm
Good place to start… but a little too late. The walls of the empire are tumbling down as we live.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:07 am
This has to stop! Close the gd border!
September 21, 2022 @ 6:08 am
Horrible & sad. Rip Luke.
In regards to addiction, you should watch Benjamin Tod’s interview from yesterday on Coyote podcast. He talks a lot about his demons and self improvement. Must watch.
September 21, 2022 @ 7:35 am
I came of age in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Like a lot of people back then, I partook of my fair share of pot, hash and pills given to me by others. Back then sharing drugs was something we all took for granted. The thought of it being laced with something was foreign to our way of thinking. But these days the thought of taking a drug given to me by a stranger is something I would never consider. I no longer partake but if I did it would come from a registered marijuana dispensary.
September 21, 2022 @ 9:17 am
Thank you for changing the title, that was good of you.
I was horribly saddened and heartbroken by Luke’s passing. The terrors of his condition are something I understand. Sometimes it’s seems almost random who can hang on and who cannot. In a strange way though, it brings me some sense of relief that although he was suffering horribly in those final days seeking solace through self medication, and although he may have, in those final moments, been indifferent to his life, he did not set out to end his own life that day. Some make it passed those lowest moments. I’m so sad Luke did not.
September 21, 2022 @ 12:49 pm
I certainly began my life running as hard as I could on The Lost Highway until, at age 31, it became clear that my alcoholism was going to cost me my career, which is all that I valued in life at that time.
I was a shell of a human being numb, miserable and fearful of everyone and everything.
Alcohol had become like oxygen to me.
Only then did I seek help by matriculating at a treatment center for 5 weeks and thereafter doing what they taught me to do and refraining from doing what they admonished me to avoid.
Tomorrow will be 34 years of continuous sobriety.
As an addict who walked Luke’s path, I am very saddened that he didn’t get to find recovery like I and many artists (Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Elton John, etc.) did. I give credit to God and AA, in that order, and not to my own wisdom when it comes to alcohol and drugs.
I was entranced by the album Luke issued several years back – he was a great talent. A true natural.
September 21, 2022 @ 6:58 pm
Chris,
You speak words of wisdom and hope. Congratulations on your success.
September 21, 2022 @ 7:47 pm
Chris,
What Wayne said.
Very Happy for you.
September 21, 2022 @ 1:16 pm
I disagree with Trigger pretty regularly about many things he writes pertaining to worldview. One thing I do not disagree with him about is his passion for country music. This community, however, regularly borders on insanity and seems like the only forum for crazed conspiracy discussions some of you have. The self-obsessed, delusional bitching and moaning does not have, in my opinion, any place anywhere near a website focusing on country music.
This is an article about an incredibly talented young man dying far too young due to an overdose. I understand that fentanyl-related deaths bring about several opinions.
Instead of focusing on the career and work of this young man and his tragic story these are some of the topics that were discussed:
1) COVID
2) The technocracy
3) The French Revolution
4) Communism
5) “One World Government”
6) Public School
7) Critical Race Theory
8) The IRS
I would imagine that most of the people leaving these comments are functioning adults. Self-reflection is so far past you that you are unable to realize how disrespectful and crazy it is to melt down into a diatribe about the new world order underneath an article about a young man dying. Shame on you.
September 21, 2022 @ 2:12 pm
I think you over estimate the “functioning adult” portion of the regulars who keep posting the same bullshit. An “ignore” button would be great to implement so that they can be ignored. And those people whose topics you mentioned ,Hate to be ignored.
To shit on a post about somebody who dies is pathetic.
September 21, 2022 @ 4:53 pm
For me, the most obnoxious comments on SCM, are the comments that complain about other comments and commenters. Those are the worst. I’m with you on having an ‘Ignore’ button.
September 21, 2022 @ 5:27 pm
So, King Honky of Cartelshire: You keep refusing to answer my question, which is, “Should alcoholic beverages be banned?”
What’s your answer?
September 21, 2022 @ 5:33 pm
Let’s not carry over the acrimony of one comments section to another comments section. This is a story about the death of Luke Bell. If your comment doesn’t have anything to do with that, let’s move on.
I’m days away from shutting comments down on this website entirely. If it’s a constant battle to keep people on topic, it’s not worth it anymore.
September 21, 2022 @ 4:31 pm
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary art”
Not actually said by Orwell but a true statement nevertheless.
September 21, 2022 @ 8:09 pm
This is one of the issues. You fancy yourself some kind of revolutionary, and you think it justifies your deluded, fantastical nonsense. But the fact of the matter is that you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.
No one is concerned with the “truth” you discover while you lay in bed at night and scroll through conspiracy YouTube. This stuff has no business being passed around at all, and the fact that you think the appropriate place to spew this nonsense is on a country music forum under a touching article about a man’s passing shows the impressive depth of your idiocy.
September 21, 2022 @ 9:41 pm
You are just another drone. Conformity is your blanket.
I pity you. Your kind die ignorant and scared. You never truly live.
September 21, 2022 @ 10:05 pm
CountryKnight and Papa Shango,
You both just left insulting, inflammatory comments on a thread that started with someone complaining how inflammatory the comments on Saving Country Music have become, on an article about a deceased country music artist. It is insulting to Luke Bell, his legacy, his family, and it is insulting to this website, and I am sick and tired of having to exp[lain this, especially to long-time readers and commenters who just blow through all off requests and stop signs.
Understand, comments sections on the internet have disappeared virtually entirely. Being able to leave comments on articles is a privilege. The reason I continue to operate a comments section is because I believe everyone’s opinion matters, not just mine. But people continue to take advantage of the fact that I try to operate a free and open discussion here, and only censor as an absolute last resort. Now, I am shutting this comments section down entirely, because that is the only way to cease the insults and off topic comments. Y’all are making this website an embarrassment, and I am sick of it.
September 21, 2022 @ 5:18 pm
If you lookup the intersection where he was found in a shaded area, it looks like the only shaded area was in the parking lot of a hospital. I sure hope that wasn’t the case…
September 21, 2022 @ 8:46 pm
I am so sorry for Luke Bell’s passing and to his family, friends and fans – Bobby
September 21, 2022 @ 5:49 pm
I don’t really understand how this led to the conversation about drug abuse and other stuff, I do but I don’t. Maybe mistakenly but I assumed the guy was taking the stuff for his mental disease. Just took too much. He wasn’t one of those people doing it for fun. This isn’t a new thing. Just the other day I was googling this guy, can’t remember name but he was an old performer of music and television. They had this tik tok of him singing on Andy Griffith. Anyway he died in 91 I believe and it was the same thing. Anyway sad to see people aren’t getting better care but really I don’t know the answers. Some people won’t stay on their meds and it’s a lifelong situation so people just get left on the wayside or forgotten about.
September 21, 2022 @ 10:06 pm
This comments section is closed due to the excessive amount of insulting and off-topic comments that are disrespectful to the important topic at hand.