. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn' title='A Los Angeles County Coroner's van exits the Beverly Hilton Hotel with the body of Whitney Houston, who died in a hotel room there on Saturday, in Beverly Hills, California February 12, 2012iences/span on Friday as she sang an . REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn' class='lzbg'>Ed Winter, assistant chief coroner for Los Angeles County, revealed little about the autopsy at a news conference, but said medical examiners found no visible signs of trauma or foul play.
He declined to comment on various media reports that Houston, 48, had drowned in her hotel bathtub, possibly after succumbing to drugs or alcoholboundaries, has fully recovered, . He added, 'I'm not going to comment on any of the meds or prescriptions that were obtained.'
'I'd just comment that she was found in the bathtub profile will be shown b. ..1328887750_6'television. I believe somebody removed her from the bathtub and the paramedics did CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on her.'
He said toxicology tests, which would take six to eight weeks to conduct, would be necessary to determine what factor, if any, drugs or alcohol might have played in Houston's death.
He also said a 'security hold' had been placed on the case, as has been done in previous high-profile investigations, to keep further details from being divulged.
The coroner's briefing came as the Grammy Awards opened a few miles away at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where rapper-actor LL Cool J paid tribute to the late pop star just after the start of the star-studded music show.
'We've had a death in our family and so at least for me ..o station and, 'It felt like something. the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman we loved, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston,' he said.
His brief prayer was followed by a clip of Houston singing her hit, 'I Will Always Love You,' as the crowd responded with a standing ovation.
Houston, who enjoyed tremendous professional success but struggled with drug abuse for years, died on Saturday afternoon in a fourth-floor room at the Beverly Hilton Hoteloat:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;'img src='http://l. She was at the hotel to attend an annual pre-Grammy gala held that evening by her mentor, record mogul Clive Davis.
The Grammy salute Sunday capped an emotional day for those closest to the pop diva and those who admired her as an entertainering off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape C. From the New Jersey church where Houston's singing career first took flight to the hotel where her life abruptly ended, family and fans expressed their grief on Sunday with prayer, tears and raw anguish.
Houston's only child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, was taken by paramedics from the hotel to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sunday suffering from anxiety, Beverly Hills police and fire officials said.
A fire department spokeswoman declined to disclose any information about the daughter's medical condition but said she was 'awake and talking' at the time she was transported.
Brown, who was reported by celebrity news website TMZ.com as being enraged at authorities for not being allowed into the hotel room where her mother's body was found, was treated at the hospital for stress and released, a source close to the family told Reutersfull '60 Minutes' profile will be shown bef. A hospital spokeswoman declined comment.
CNN reported that Houston's ex-husband, R&B singer Bobby Brown, canceled a long-scheduled performance in Nashville, Tennessee, with his former band, New Edition, to fly back to Los Angeles and attend to the couple's daughter.
TEARS AND PRAYERS
At the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, Houston's hometown, fans and admirers gathered to celebrate her life during three Sunday services, portions of which were devoted to the singer and her family.
Cards and flowers were tied to the railings of the church, where congregants hugged and cried at the entrancea, (AP Photo/Bruce Weav. Among those paying their respects was the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights activist.
'The suddenness of it all leaves us traumatized,' said Jackson, who watched Houston grow up and sing at New Hopeg, 'span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1328887750_1. It was in that red brick church on a quiet backstreet near downtown Newark where Houston's career began as a soloist in a gospel choir in the 1970s.
While the cause of Houston's death remained undetermined, media reports on Sunday focused on her public behavior in the hours before her death.
The Los Angeles Times said Houston, disheveled, sweaty and smelling of alcohol, was behaving erratically when she stopped by the Hilton two days earlier, accompanied by her daughter, for rehearsalsince her span class='yshort. She was seen flailing her hands frenetically, skipping around the ballroom and wandering aimlessless through the lobby, the newspaper said.
Members of Houston's family expressed their grief in a brief statement saying they were 'devastated' by her loss.
'This is an unimaginable tragedy and we will miss her terribly,' it saiddele makes her live comeback at the Gramm. 'We appreciate the outpouring of love and support from her fans and friends.'
In a separate statement issued through People magazine, former husband Bobby Brown, with whom she had shared a long struggle with substance abuse, said, 'I am deeply saddened at the passing of my ex-wife, Whitney Houston.'
Brown was described by an unnamed relative as 'beside himself' with grief, according to the magazine.
On the West Coast, the First AME Church of Los Angeles, the city's oldest African-American congregation, held a special moment of silence in Houston's memory.
'Many of us were rooting and pulling for her because she has been a blessing to this generation with talent, with a special anointed voice,' Pastor John Hunter told parishionersd was placed on strict vocal rest, She said the . 'We will miss her_5'throat surgery/span late last year, the p. This world will miss her.'
Houston's songs were already dominating Internet music sales early on Sunday music industry has been e. Her album 'Whitney Houston - The Greatest Hits' was the top seller in the music category on Amazon.com, and her signature hit, 'I Will Always Love You,' was the Nob4eb2472fdf3102e30e6a706. 1 download at iTunes.
Over the course of a 30-year career in which she established herself as one of the most-admired and influential singers of her time, Houston won six Grammys, 30 Billboard awards and 22 American Music Awards.
The soundtrack for the hit movie in which she starred, 'The Bodyguard,' was among the best-selling film soundtracks ever.
By the early 1990s, Houston's success on stage was accompanied by an increasingly troubled personal lifee has told '60 Minutes'. In 1992 she married singer Bobby Brown and their tumultuous 14 years together were marred by drug abuse and domestic violence.
The last 10 years of Houston's life were dominated by drug use, rumors of relapses and trips to rehab.
(Additional reporting by R.Taged polyp on her vocal cords . Watson, Mary Slosson, Jill Serjeant, Dan Whitcomb and Piya Sinha-Roy.; Editing by Steve Gorman, Dan Burns and Stacey Joyce)
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