The girlfriend of ex-Pop Idol star Darius Danesh has revealed his autopsy results after his death. The singer and actor, aged 41, was found dead in his US apartment in Rochester, Minnesota, in August 2022.
As the Mirror reports, local police in the area said at the time of his death that there were "no signs of intent or suspicious circumstances" and his cause of death was later ruled as a result of "inhalation of chloroethane". His girlfriend Lauren Cheek has now said his autopsy results also showed his heart swelled to twice its normal size and the singer had a broken neck, due to a car crash in 2010.
"Darius was living with this heart condition that he didn’t know he had," she said. Speaking to The Sun, she added: "So many things could have taken him, but this one thing did, and he died in his sleep.
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"His mum told me they only found out after they did the autopsy. His heart was twice the size it was supposed to be, which was fitting, because that is genuinely how he was — he had so much love."
His autopsy discovered he also had a broken neck, which he never got it checked out. She went on to explain how he used chloroethane for his pain as he didn't want to take any painkillers.
In September, autopsy documents obtained by the PA news agency listed "toxic effects of chloroethane" in addition to "suffocation" as having contributed to his death. The death was ruled an accident by the medical examiner.
Chloroethane, commonly known as ethyl chloride, is used in petrol additives, plastics, dyes, pharmaceuticals, topical anaesthetics, and as an industrial refrigerant. Ethyl chloride became popular as an inhalant street drug in the 1980s.
Brief inhalations of the drug can result in dizziness, euphoria, confusion, incoordination, hallucinations, impairment of short-term memory and narcosis. His family also released a statement to the PA news agency, saying: "The results of medical examinations have confirmed that Darius’s death was an accident caused by chloroethane, which is used to treat pain and that tragically lead to respiratory arrest.
"Darius was suffering from chronic neck pain following a car accident in 2010. We would like to thank everyone for their love and kindness, and ask that the family’s privacy is maintained during this difficult time."
The Scottish singer-songwriter and actor – who was known as Darius Danesh when he made his first bid for fame in ITV show Popstars in 2001 – also appeared on the first Pop Idol in 2002, finishing third behind Gareth Gates and eventual winner Will Young.
