Tax returns show Johnson, known by some as Kirky J, served as president of Prince’s Love 4 One Another Charities for a number of years before becoming estate manager at Paisley Park in 2011. Public records indicate Johnson has lived in a Prince-owned home two miles from Paisley Park for several years.
“I’m pretty sure Kirky J knows more about our beloved Prince than any other living soul,” a commenter wrote earlier this month on Prince.org, a fan community forum.
The Carver County Sheriff’s Office declined to answer questions about Johnson’s role in the investigation.
The Star Tribune, citing unidentified sources, reports investigators are trying to determine whether opioid painkillers such as oxycodone or hydrocodone played a role in Prince’s death and if they were supplied to him illegally. Last fall, the newspaper’s review of state death records revealed opioid overuse now kills more Minnesotans each year than homicide.
A month before the singer’s death, Johnson’s lawyer, Tyler, warned on his website that Minnesota authorities are cracking down prescription drug abuse.
“Sharing your medication with a friend who is struggling with pain might be well-meaning, but under Minnesota’s broad definition of ‘sell,’ you could be charged with felony drug sales,” Tyler wrote in a blog post.
Tyler did not return messages seeking comment for this story.
The week before Prince’s death, a private jet carrying the musician home from a concert in Atlanta had to make an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., when the singer lost consciousness.
“[Patient] was carried down from an airplane by [patient’s] body guard,” a paramedic wrote in a report about the April 15 incident. Emergency workers who met the jet gave Prince a shot of the opioid antidote Narcan, the Star Tribune reported.
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Chanhassen-based Life Time Fitness — the health club where Johnson works as a trainer and group fitness instructor — owns the plane involved in the emergency landing. The gym’s spokeswoman declined to answer questions about the company’s plane and Prince.
Johnson traded text messages with a Star Tribune reporter several hours after the emergency landing.
“All is good. Home and well,” Johnson wrote.
“What happened?” the reporter asked.
“Bad dehydration. Sorry, I can’t talk right now. Hey u and 2 million others are on me, but I’m not the publicist. Sorry.”
Jason Sickles is a national reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).
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