What was Elvis Presley’s cause of death? A look back at the King's 1977 death in Memphis

"Death Captures Crown of Rock and Roll — Elvis Dies Apparently After Heart Attack."

That was the headline stripped across the front page of the Wednesday, Aug. 17, 1977, edition of The Commercial Appeal, relaying the shocking news from the previous day.

Elvis Presley was pronounced dead at Baptist Hospital on Union Avenue in Memphis at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 16, 1977.

He had been transported to the hospital by Memphis Fire Department ambulance after he was found on the floor of his upstairs bathroom at Graceland. He was 42.

Here is a closer look at what to know about Elvis' 1977 death.

What did autopsy determine was Elvis' cause of death?

Dr. Jerry Francisco, the Shelby County Medical Examiner, who conducted an autopsy that day with a team of six pathologists, said Elvis' death was due to cardiac arrest. (The family had a history of heart trouble: Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, had died of a heart attack on Aug. 14, 1958, at 46.) Francisco noted that preliminary autopsy findings suggested the cause of death was either "cardiac arrhythmia" or “an irregular and ineffective” heartbeat.

Francisco also reported that Presley suffered from "mild hypertension" and "coronary disease that had gone undetected," and he "died in a matter of four short minutes of coronary arrhythmia, an irregular beating of the heart." Francisco concluded that "there was no evidence of any drug use contributing to his death."

The coroner was initially unable to uncover the cause of the arrhythmia. This caused considerable media speculation that Presley's death might have been the result of a drug overdose, as several different prescription drugs were found in his body.

In the fall of 1977, the Shelby County coroner's office ruled out drugs as the cause of Elvis' death. "Although prescription drugs were present in his body at the time of his death," Francisco noted, "The cause of death has been ascribed to hypertensive heart disease, with coronary artery heart disease as a contributing factor."

Prior to his passing, Presley had dealt with various health problems and had been hospitalized several times in the '70s for hypertension and issues with his colon. Presley also suffered from mild diabetes and liver problems.

Did drug use contribute to Elvis' death?

Beginning shortly after Presley's death and continuing over the next several years, various investigations and reports began to attribute Elvis' cardiac arrest to "polypharmacy" (the simultaneous use of multiple drugs), which adversely affected what medical personnel variously referred to as Presley's "enlarged" heart, his "clogged" arteries and his "hypertensive heart disease."

The Commercial Appeal later reported that lab reports indicated that 14 drugs were found in Presley's blood at the time of his death, including "near toxic levels" of codeine, morphine, Placidyl and other prescription drugs. The "overdose of depressants" likely caused him to pass out in a slumped "fetal" position, and "he died when the drugs, in combination with pressure from his body weight, brought his respiration to a halt," according to the evening newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar.

Presley's drug habit is now generally accepted as a cause of death. The Encyclopedia Britannica states, simply: "Elvis Presley died of a heart attack in 1977 brought on largely by drug abuse."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What was Elvis Presley’s cause of death?