Juice WRLD's 2019 Death: Federal-Agent Pill-Swallow vs. Natural OD
Introduction
Jarad Anthony Higgins, known professionally as Juice WRLD, was a 21-year-old Chicago rapper, named top new artist at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards that May, when he collapsed at Chicago Midway Airport in the early hours of 8 December 2019. He had just flown in from Los Angeles on a private jet, and federal agents and Chicago police officers, acting on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs, were waiting for it. During the search that followed in a private hangar, Higgins went into convulsions. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead at 3:14 a.m.
On 22 January 2020 the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that he died of oxycodone and codeine toxicity and that the manner of death was accident. The ruling was unambiguous on the pharmacological cause. The conspiracy question concerns not what killed him — opioid toxicity — but how and why he came to have a lethal quantity of those opioids in his system in those specific circumstances.
What Happened at Midway
The Gulfstream jet carrying Higgins and about a dozen other people landed at about 2 a.m. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said federal agents and city police officers were waiting, acting on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs. According to police, the group was intercepted by officers and FBI officials as it entered the lobby of the Atlantic Aviation hangar, and during the search a drug-sniffing dog made a "positive alert" on luggage carts loaded with bags from the plane. Police said the luggage held 41 vacuum-sealed bags containing a total of 70 pounds of marijuana and six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, along with two 9mm pistols, a .40-caliber pistol, a high-capacity ammunition magazine and metal-piercing bullets. None of the dozen or so people on the plane admitted to carrying the drugs.
Reports differ on which federal agency was involved. Chicago police referred to FBI officials; CBS Chicago reported that a Homeland Security officer administered Narcan; TMZ, citing law-enforcement sources, reported that Homeland Security agents operating under an FBI task force searched the jet. TMZ's sources also said the pilot had alerted authorities that members of the entourage had guns, and that customs agents had searched a jet carrying Higgins and his entourage at LAX on 18 November 2019 before a flight to Sydney, Australia. Those two details rest on TMZ's unnamed sources.
Two men in Higgins' group were taken into custody on misdemeanor weapons charges. One was Chris Long, who is widely identified in press coverage as Higgins' photographer, although early wire reports described both men as security guards; police said Long was charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a weapon. The other man was charged with two concealed-carry firearms violations and with having a high-capacity magazine. Both men had valid concealed-carry permits, but those permits do not allow weapons to be brought into an airport.
Higgins went into convulsions during the search. According to police, one of the agents administered Narcan (naloxone, an opioid-reversal drug) after Higgins' girlfriend said he had been taking Percocet; NBC Chicago reported that the agent gave two doses. The Chicago Tribune reported that he woke up but remained incoherent. He was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 3:14 a.m. Police said at the time there were "no obvious signs of foul play."
The Pill-Swallow Account
The on-the-record police account said only that Higgins' girlfriend told agents he had been taking Percocet. Two anonymously sourced reports went further. On 9 December 2019 TMZ reported, citing law-enforcement sources, that at some point between the plane landing and the search, Higgins "was seen swallowing several Percocet pills in what people believed was an attempt to hide them." The Chicago Sun-Times separately reported that a police source said a friend of Higgins had told authorities that he ingested several Percocet pills before his death, possibly to conceal them from local and federal officers. Neither report named a witness.
Chris Long, who was on the plane, publicly disputed that account on social media in May 2021: "J did not swallow a bunch of pills because the police where [sic] at the airport." He added: "J was just hooked bad. The amount he took daily was absurd and he hid how much he really took from mostly everyone." The claim that Higgins swallowed pills to hide them from agents therefore rests on unnamed sources and is disputed by a named member of his team who was present.
The Medical Finding
After an initial autopsy, further cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology studies were required before a cause could be established. On 22 January 2020 the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Higgins "died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity" and that "the manner of death is accident." The county's public case archive, which does not list names, holds a record (case ME2019-05824) whose date, times, age, location, cause and manner match the case: incident at 2 a.m. on 8 December 2019 at 6150 S. Laramie, the address of the Atlantic Aviation terminal at Midway; death at 3:14 a.m.; age 21; primary cause "oxycodone and codeine toxicity"; manner "accident". The ruling is a finding of accidental overdose, not homicide. The ruling does not say when or why he took the drugs.
The Conspiracy Framing: Spectrum of Claims
The conspiracy claims about Juice WRLD's death exist on a spectrum:
Weak claim (plausible but unproven): The federal enforcement encounter was a proximate cause of the fatal swallow. Without the search, Higgins would not have swallowed the pills at that moment. The enforcement action therefore bears causal responsibility for setting in motion the chain of events.
This version of the claim rests on two anonymously sourced reports: TMZ's, attributed to unnamed law-enforcement sources, and the Chicago Sun-Times', attributed to a police source relaying what a friend of Higgins told authorities. Neither report named a witness, and Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, has publicly disputed that the pill-taking was a reaction to the police at all. The causal chain from "agents wait at the hangar" to "Higgins swallows pills" to "Higgins dies" is therefore alleged, not established.
Strong claim (not supported): Federal agents deliberately orchestrated the encounter specifically to cause Higgins' death — i.e., that this was an assassination dressed up as a routine search. No evidence supports this version. Police said the agents and officers were acting on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs, and the search found three pistols, ammunition, 70 pounds of marijuana and codeine cough syrup, which is consistent with a genuine drug-and-weapons investigation rather than a cover story. When Higgins went into convulsions, an agent administered Narcan to try to reverse an opioid overdose.
Intermediate claim (speculative): Higgins was targeted because of his cultural influence, lyrical content about drug use, or some protected information he held. This version is unfalsifiable and has no documentary basis.
Cover-up claim (not supported): Some versions hold that the official account hides what really happened. The cause and manner of death were determined by the Cook County Medical Examiner, a county office, after toxicology and other studies, and a record matching the case details appears in the county's public case archive. Police publicly listed what was found in the group's luggage and charged two members of the group. No published forensic finding contradicts the toxicology ruling.
Why the Enforcement-Caused Framing Resonates
Several contextual factors lend the "enforcement-caused" framing emotional resonance, even if they do not support the stronger murder version:
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Higgins addressed his drug use in his music; his family later said that "as he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency."
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It was a targeted operation, not a random check: police said agents and officers were waiting on a tip. TMZ also reported, citing law-enforcement sources, that customs agents had searched a jet carrying Higgins at LAX three weeks earlier, and that he had been arrested at New York's LaGuardia Airport in 2018 after marijuana and codeine were allegedly found in a checked bag, a case TMZ said ended in a plea to a non-criminal offense.
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Some supporters saw the federal attention as disproportionate; TMZ reported that friends of Higgins thought police were "profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets."
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Even though the pill-swallowing account traces to unnamed sources rather than a named witness, the reported timing — pills swallowed between landing and the search — is enough for some observers to draw a moral, if not evidentiary, line from the search to the death.
What the Evidence Does and Does Not Support
The evidence supports: Juice WRLD died of oxycodone and codeine toxicity, ruled accidental; federal agents and Chicago police were searching his group on a tip when he went into convulsions; an agent administered Narcan; guns, ammunition, marijuana and codeine syrup were found in the group's luggage. Two anonymous reports say he swallowed Percocet around the time of the search, possibly to hide it; a member of his team who was present disputes that the police were the reason.
The evidence does not support: deliberate targeting for assassination; a cover story concealing a different cause of death; involvement by record labels, management, or any non-governmental actor in engineering the encounter.
The Cook County ruling of accidental death is internally consistent with all documented evidence. No credible forensic challenge to the toxicology finding has been published.
Juice WRLD's Own Acknowledged Drug Use
Higgins' drug dependency was known to his family and those around him. In a statement released on 12 December 2019, his mother, Carmela Wallace, said: "As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency." The statement added: "Addiction knows no boundaries, and its impact goes beyond the person fighting it."
The 2021 HBO Max documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss, directed by Tommy Oliver, depicts his heavy use of Percocet and lean. In its epilogue, a member of his label team says the team came to believe he was taking an estimated 20 pills a day at one point. Chris Long's 2021 statements, quoted above, describe the same pattern.
A fatal quantity of oxycodone and codeine is consistent with that pattern of heavy daily use. It does not by itself show when or why he took the pills that killed him.
Later Developments
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April 2020: Carmela Wallace launched the Live Free 999 Fund in her son's name, to support programs that address addiction, anxiety and depression, with additional support from Grade A Productions and Interscope Records, the labels he was signed to.
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May 2021: Chris Long publicly disputed the account that Higgins swallowed pills because police were at the airport.
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December 2021: HBO Max released Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss, which depicts his drug use in the period before his death.
Verdict
Unsubstantiated. What is documented: Higgins went into convulsions and died while federal agents and Chicago police were searching his group at Midway, and the Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the death an accidental oxycodone and codeine toxicity. What is unproven: that the search caused him to swallow the pills that killed him. That account rests on two anonymously sourced reports (TMZ and the Chicago Sun-Times) and has been publicly disputed by Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present. It is plausible but not established. There is no evidence that agents deliberately killed him or that officials covered up a different cause of death.
What Would Change Our Verdict
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Disclosure of federal agency communications showing Higgins was specifically targeted for non-law-enforcement reasons
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Forensic challenge to the toxicology findings from an independent pathologist
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Credible whistleblower testimony from within the investigation
Evidence Filters11
Cook County Medical Examiner: oxycodone and codeine toxicity
DebunkingStrongOn 22 January 2020 the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Higgins "died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity" and that "the manner of death is accident," after further toxicology, cardiac, neuropathology and histology studies. The county's public case archive, which has no name field, holds a record (ME2019-05824) whose date, times, age and location match the case, with the same cause and manner. The finding is unambiguous on the pharmacological cause.
Anonymous reports of a pill swallow — disputed by Chris Long
SupportingTMZ reported, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, that between the plane landing and the search Higgins "was seen swallowing several Percocet pills in what people believed was an attempt to hide them." The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a police source said a friend of Higgins told authorities he ingested several Percocet pills, possibly to conceal them from officers. Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, publicly disputed this in May 2021. The on-the-record police account says only that his girlfriend told agents he had been taking Percocet. The toxicology finding shows opioid toxicity but cannot show when or why he took the pills, so it neither confirms nor refutes this account.
Rebuttal
Even if the anonymously sourced account is accurate, it describes Higgins swallowing his own pills during a search, not agents causing or concealing his death. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the death an accident from oxycodone and codeine toxicity, police reported "no obvious signs of foul play", and a federal agent administered Narcan to try to reverse the overdose. Chris Long, who was present, has publicly disputed the account.
Federal agents administered Narcan on scene
DebunkingAccording to Chicago police, one of the federal agents administered Narcan (naloxone), an opioid-reversal drug, after Higgins went into convulsions and his girlfriend said he had been taking Percocet; NBC Chicago reported two doses, and CBS Chicago reported that the agent was a Homeland Security officer. Trying to reverse an opioid overdose does not fit a murder framing.
Search followed a tip and found guns and drugs
DebunkingStrongChicago police said federal agents and city officers were waiting at Midway on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs. Police said the group's luggage held 70 pounds of marijuana in 41 vacuum-sealed bags, six bottles of codeine cough syrup, three pistols, a high-capacity magazine and metal-piercing bullets, and two men were charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses. That is consistent with a genuine drug-and-weapons investigation rather than a cover story for an assassination.
Higgins' prescription-drug dependency was known to family and associates
DebunkingStrongHis family's statement after his death said: "As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency." The 2021 documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss depicts heavy Percocet and lean use, and Chris Long described his daily intake as "absurd." A fatal quantity of opioids is consistent with that dependency.
Enforcement encounter as proximate contributor — disputed pill-swallow account
SupportingAnonymously sourced reports by TMZ (unnamed law-enforcement sources) and the Chicago Sun-Times (a police source relaying a friend's account) are the basis for the claim that but for the agents' presence, Higgins would not have swallowed the pills at that moment — an account Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, has publicly disputed. "Enforcement triggered the swallow" is a plausible but unproven causal claim that stops well short of deliberate assassination.
Rebuttal
Causal contribution to circumstances is not the same as murder. According to police, the agents and officers were acting on a tip that the plane carried guns and drugs, and the search found both. Even taking the disputed pill-swallowing account at face value, any decision to swallow pills was Higgins' own response to a law-enforcement search police said was prompted by a tip, not an act by the agents themselves.
No evidence of deliberate assassination motive or planning
DebunkingStrongNo document, communication, whistleblower account, or journalistic investigation has produced evidence that the search was designed to cause Higgins' death rather than execute a drug and firearms search.
Concerns about disproportionate policing of young Black artists
SupportingWeakSupporters cite broader concerns about disproportionate policing of young Black artists; general concerns are not case-specific evidence. TMZ reported that friends of Higgins thought police were "profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets."
Rebuttal
General pattern evidence does not substitute for case-specific evidence. Systemic disproportionality is a legitimate grievance; it does not mean every law enforcement encounter resulting in death is an assassination.
Manner of death: accidental — no foul play finding
DebunkingStrongThe Cook County Medical Examiner classified the manner of death as accident, not homicide, and police said at the time there were "no obvious signs of foul play." This is the conclusion of forensic professionals with direct access to the evidence.
No independent forensic challenge to the autopsy
DebunkingIn the years since Higgins' death, no credible independent forensic analysis has challenged the Cook County toxicology findings. The absence of a credible counter-finding is significant given the public interest in the case.
Show 1 more evidence point
Federal agency involvement reported inconsistently
NeutralWeakChicago police referred to FBI officials at the hangar; CBS Chicago reported a Homeland Security officer administered Narcan; TMZ reported Homeland Security agents working under an FBI task force. The inconsistency is a gap in the public record, not evidence of foul play.
Evidence Cited by Believers3
Anonymous reports of a pill swallow — disputed by Chris Long
SupportingTMZ reported, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, that between the plane landing and the search Higgins "was seen swallowing several Percocet pills in what people believed was an attempt to hide them." The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a police source said a friend of Higgins told authorities he ingested several Percocet pills, possibly to conceal them from officers. Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, publicly disputed this in May 2021. The on-the-record police account says only that his girlfriend told agents he had been taking Percocet. The toxicology finding shows opioid toxicity but cannot show when or why he took the pills, so it neither confirms nor refutes this account.
Rebuttal
Even if the anonymously sourced account is accurate, it describes Higgins swallowing his own pills during a search, not agents causing or concealing his death. The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the death an accident from oxycodone and codeine toxicity, police reported "no obvious signs of foul play", and a federal agent administered Narcan to try to reverse the overdose. Chris Long, who was present, has publicly disputed the account.
Enforcement encounter as proximate contributor — disputed pill-swallow account
SupportingAnonymously sourced reports by TMZ (unnamed law-enforcement sources) and the Chicago Sun-Times (a police source relaying a friend's account) are the basis for the claim that but for the agents' presence, Higgins would not have swallowed the pills at that moment — an account Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, has publicly disputed. "Enforcement triggered the swallow" is a plausible but unproven causal claim that stops well short of deliberate assassination.
Rebuttal
Causal contribution to circumstances is not the same as murder. According to police, the agents and officers were acting on a tip that the plane carried guns and drugs, and the search found both. Even taking the disputed pill-swallowing account at face value, any decision to swallow pills was Higgins' own response to a law-enforcement search police said was prompted by a tip, not an act by the agents themselves.
Concerns about disproportionate policing of young Black artists
SupportingWeakSupporters cite broader concerns about disproportionate policing of young Black artists; general concerns are not case-specific evidence. TMZ reported that friends of Higgins thought police were "profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets."
Rebuttal
General pattern evidence does not substitute for case-specific evidence. Systemic disproportionality is a legitimate grievance; it does not mean every law enforcement encounter resulting in death is an assassination.
Counter-Evidence7
Cook County Medical Examiner: oxycodone and codeine toxicity
DebunkingStrongOn 22 January 2020 the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Higgins "died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity" and that "the manner of death is accident," after further toxicology, cardiac, neuropathology and histology studies. The county's public case archive, which has no name field, holds a record (ME2019-05824) whose date, times, age and location match the case, with the same cause and manner. The finding is unambiguous on the pharmacological cause.
Federal agents administered Narcan on scene
DebunkingAccording to Chicago police, one of the federal agents administered Narcan (naloxone), an opioid-reversal drug, after Higgins went into convulsions and his girlfriend said he had been taking Percocet; NBC Chicago reported two doses, and CBS Chicago reported that the agent was a Homeland Security officer. Trying to reverse an opioid overdose does not fit a murder framing.
Search followed a tip and found guns and drugs
DebunkingStrongChicago police said federal agents and city officers were waiting at Midway on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs. Police said the group's luggage held 70 pounds of marijuana in 41 vacuum-sealed bags, six bottles of codeine cough syrup, three pistols, a high-capacity magazine and metal-piercing bullets, and two men were charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses. That is consistent with a genuine drug-and-weapons investigation rather than a cover story for an assassination.
Higgins' prescription-drug dependency was known to family and associates
DebunkingStrongHis family's statement after his death said: "As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency." The 2021 documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss depicts heavy Percocet and lean use, and Chris Long described his daily intake as "absurd." A fatal quantity of opioids is consistent with that dependency.
No evidence of deliberate assassination motive or planning
DebunkingStrongNo document, communication, whistleblower account, or journalistic investigation has produced evidence that the search was designed to cause Higgins' death rather than execute a drug and firearms search.
Manner of death: accidental — no foul play finding
DebunkingStrongThe Cook County Medical Examiner classified the manner of death as accident, not homicide, and police said at the time there were "no obvious signs of foul play." This is the conclusion of forensic professionals with direct access to the evidence.
No independent forensic challenge to the autopsy
DebunkingIn the years since Higgins' death, no credible independent forensic analysis has challenged the Cook County toxicology findings. The absence of a credible counter-finding is significant given the public interest in the case.
Neutral / Ambiguous1
Federal agency involvement reported inconsistently
NeutralWeakChicago police referred to FBI officials at the hangar; CBS Chicago reported a Homeland Security officer administered Narcan; TMZ reported Homeland Security agents working under an FBI task force. The inconsistency is a gap in the public record, not evidence of foul play.
Timeline
TMZ: customs agents searched a jet carrying Higgins at LAX
According to law-enforcement sources cited by TMZ, customs agents searched a private jet carrying Higgins and his entourage at LAX as they boarded a flight to Sydney, Australia. TMZ reported this on 10 December 2019.
Source →Jet from Los Angeles lands at Midway; agents and police waiting on a tip
The private jet carrying Higgins and about a dozen others lands at Midway at about 2 a.m. Chicago police said federal agents and city officers were waiting, acting on a tip that the plane was carrying guns and drugs. TMZ later reported, citing law-enforcement sources, that the pilot had alerted authorities that members of the entourage had guns.
Source →Search at the Midway hangar; Higgins collapses and dies
During the search in a private hangar, a drug-sniffing dog alerts on the group's luggage, which police say holds 70 pounds of marijuana, codeine cough syrup, three pistols and ammunition. Higgins goes into convulsions; an agent administers Narcan after his girlfriend says he had been taking Percocet. He is pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 3:14 a.m. TMZ and the Chicago Sun-Times later report, citing unnamed sources, that he swallowed Percocet pills around the time of the search — an account Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, has since publicly disputed.
Source →Police detail the search; two men in Higgins' group charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses
Chicago police say the group's luggage held 70 pounds of marijuana in 41 vacuum-sealed bags, six bottles of codeine cough syrup, three pistols and ammunition. Two men in the group, described in wire reports as security guards, are charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses; one is Chris Long. TMZ reports, citing law-enforcement sources, that Higgins was seen swallowing several Percocet pills before the search.
Source →Family statement: "Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency"
In a statement after his death, his mother, Carmela Wallace, says: "As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency."
Source →Cook County Medical Examiner rules death an accident: oxycodone and codeine toxicity
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announces that Higgins died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity and that the manner of death is accident. The ruling follows cardiac pathology, neuropathology, toxicology and histology studies ordered after the initial autopsy.
Source →Live Free 999 Fund launched
Carmela Wallace announces the Live Free 999 Fund in her son's name to support programs addressing addiction, anxiety and depression, with additional support from Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.
Source →
Verdict
Cook County Medical Examiner: accidental oxycodone and codeine toxicity. TMZ (citing unnamed law-enforcement sources) and the Chicago Sun-Times (citing a police source) reported that Higgins swallowed Percocet pills around the time of the federal search, possibly to hide them; Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was on the plane, publicly disputed that account. Documented: he died during the search, of accidental opioid toxicity. Unproven: that the search caused the reported pill-swallow, which is plausible but rests on anonymous sources and is disputed. There is no evidence of deliberate killing or a cover-up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did federal agents cause Juice WRLD's death?
The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled that he died of oxycodone and codeine toxicity and that the manner of death was accident. TMZ (citing unnamed law-enforcement sources) and the Chicago Sun-Times (citing a police source) reported that he swallowed Percocet pills around the time of the search, possibly to hide them — an account Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was present, has publicly disputed. Whether the enforcement encounter was a proximate contributor to the reported pill-swallow is therefore plausible but unproven. The stronger claims that agents deliberately engineered his death, or that officials covered up the cause, have no evidentiary basis.
Was Juice WRLD's drug use known before his death?
Yes, to his family and those around him. His family's statement after his death said: "As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency." The 2021 HBO Max documentary Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss depicts heavy Percocet and lean use, and Chris Long, who was with him, said he hid how much he really took from most people.
What did the federal agents find on the plane?
According to Chicago police, the group's luggage held 41 vacuum-sealed bags containing 70 pounds of marijuana, six bottles of prescription codeine cough syrup, two 9mm pistols, a .40-caliber pistol, a high-capacity ammunition magazine and metal-piercing bullets. None of the people on the plane admitted to carrying the drugs. Two men in the group were charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses. The seizures are consistent with a genuine investigation prompted by a tip, not a cover story for an assassination.
Did Juice WRLD swallow pills to hide them from agents?
It is not established that he swallowed pills because of the search. On the record, police said only that his girlfriend told agents he had been taking Percocet. TMZ, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, reported that he was seen swallowing several Percocet pills between the plane landing and the search, in what people believed was an attempt to hide them; the Chicago Sun-Times reported, citing a police source, that a friend gave authorities a similar account. Chris Long, a member of Higgins' team who was on the plane, has publicly disputed that account, saying the pill-taking reflected a severe, largely hidden daily addiction rather than a reaction to the police.
What is the official cause of death?
On 22 January 2020 the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Higgins died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity and that the manner of death was accident. The ruling followed additional toxicology and other studies after an initial autopsy. No credible independent forensic challenge to this finding has been published.
Which federal agency searched Juice WRLD's group?
The public record is inconsistent. Chicago police said the group was intercepted by police and FBI officials; CBS Chicago reported that a Homeland Security officer administered Narcan; TMZ, citing law-enforcement sources, reported that Homeland Security agents operating under an FBI task force carried out the search.
Who was charged after the Midway search?
Two men in Higgins' group were charged with misdemeanor weapons offenses. Police said both had valid concealed-carry permits, which do not allow weapons in an airport. One was Chris Long, widely identified as Higgins' photographer, charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a weapon; the other was charged with two concealed-carry violations and having a high-capacity magazine. None of the people on the plane admitted to carrying the drugs found in the luggage.
What is the Live Free 999 Fund?
A fund launched by Higgins' mother, Carmela Wallace, in April 2020 to support young people dealing with addiction, anxiety and depression, with additional support from Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.
Sources
Show 14 more sources
Further Reading
- paperCook County Medical Examiner Case Archive: record ME2019-05824 (matches the case details; no name field) — Cook County Medical Examiner (2020)
Update Log
- November 2026: Verdict changed from partially true to unsubstantiated: the death during the search and the accidental opioid toxicity are documented, but the claim that the search caused him to swallow the pills rests on anonymous reports disputed by a named witness, and there is no evidence of a cover-up. Also corrected the date of the Medical Examiner's ruling (22 January 2020) and its wording, replaced unsourced details about the search (agency, agents boarding the plane, 'documented predicate') with the on-the-record police account, added the Chicago Sun-Times' anonymously sourced pill-swallow report alongside TMZ's, the weapons charges, the cover-up claim, the family's statement and later developments, and replaced or removed sources that pointed only to homepages.