The Franklin County Sheriff’s department has launched an investigation into the shocking death of country legend Naomi Judd.
“It’s an open investigation, currently we are not releasing any reports, 911 calls or bodycam or dashcam footage. This is a death investigation which is ongoing,” Public Information Officer Williamson said in a statement to Us Weekly on Monday, April 2. “There is no police jurisdiction in that area, so only the sheriff’s department attended. We are awaiting information from the detectives from the criminal investigation division.“
Two days prior, Wynonna Judd and Ashley Judd took to social media to confirm their mother’s death at the age of 76. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy,” they tweeted in a joint message on Saturday, April 30. “We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”
Wynonna, 57, and Ashley, 54, went on to pay tribute to their mom, who rose to prominence as one half of The Judds, at the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Nashville on Sunday, May 1. The country duo was originally formed in 1983 by Naomi and her eldest daughter before they retired in the early ’90s.
“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” Ashley said through tears when she took the stage, leading the audience in reciting a Bible passage.
The “I Saw the Light” singer, for her part, added: “I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew mom would probably talk the most. I’m gonna make this fast, because my heart’s broken, and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic, to be this broken and this blessed. … Though my heart’s broken, I will continue to sing, because that’s what we do.”
The late musician has previously opened up about dealing with severe depression throughout her life. “I would come home and not leave the house for three weeks and not get outta my pajamas, not practice normal hygiene,” Naomi said during a December 2016 appearance on Good Morning America. “My hands shake really bad … medication, nothing I can do about it. And my face, I feel like a balloon. My face is all swollen because of the medication. I really haven’t been eating ice cream and candy, I really haven’t!”
She added at the time: “What I’ve been through is extreme [and] it was so deep and so completely debilitating and life-threatening. … I have processed and worked so hard for these last four years.”
