Feds probe the tragic death (and life) of Prince

As a federal probe into the tragic death of superstar Prince broadens to include the DEA, some super sad facts about his life are also emerging.

Almost two weeks after the 57-year-old entertainer was found alone and "unresponsive" at his Minneapolis mansion and pronounced dead by paramedics, an official cause of death still hasn't been declared.

Suicide or foul play, though, has been quietly ruled out, as law enforcement focuses instead on his history of pill-popping and "such things as where the medications came from and what prescriptions Prince had obtained."

Amid addiction, AIDS and bankruptcy rumors, it's widely believed Prince died from an inadvertent overdose brought on by decades of substance abuse and a host of health issues he'd been battling for years.

Those close to the gaunt 5-foot-3 musician say he suffered debilitating hip problems caused by a lifetime of wearing and performing in platform shoes, and had begun self-medicating early in his career to "conquer" stage fright and epilepsy.

They also revealed that Prince was diagnosed HIV positive back in the 1990s and that recently his medical condition had developed into full blown AIDS.

The incurable disease -- coupled with drug addiction -- not only left him disoriented, paranoid, emaciated and unable keep down food, but reportedly created a shocking picture of an already dying man:

"His face was yellowish," one unnamed source told the National Enquirer over the weekend. "The skin on his neck was hanging off and the tips of his fingers were a brownish-yellow."

On the night preceding Prince's sudden death episode, he had driven miles from his Paisley Park home to fill an illegal prescription for painkillers under one of many false names created for him so to "avoid a paper trail."

That long and winding pathway to death is now the subject of a criminal investigation which could see some of his private physicians and closest associates eventually held accountable.

Complicating matters further, the chronically ailing and reclusive rock-star made no Last Will and Testament, although he had several family members who could have been named as heirs, including a blood sister. 

Consequently, legal experts are warning it will "take years" to sort out Prince's multimillion-dollar business holdings and personal estate, the values of which could steadily diminish while his relatives slug it out in a courtroom.

As they start lining up to do just that, police continue this month to pore over the dead celebrity's once-very private affairs and collect more physical evidence in his high-profile death inquiry.

Autopsy and toxicology tests were completed by the last week of April, but those results are still pending.

EPONYMOUS ROX