R&B singer Bobby Brown said on Monday that his daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was “an angel” and that the family must find a way to honour her memory.
Bobbi Kristina, the daughter of singer Whitney Houston, died on Sunday in hospice care, six months after she was found face-down in a bathtub in her suburban Atlanta townhome. Authorities are investigating her death.
“Krissy was and is an angel,” her father said in a statement. “I am completely numb at this time. My family must find a way to live with her in spirit and honour her memory. Our loss is unimaginable.”
She will be buried in New Jersey alongside her music icon mother this week, said family sources.
Her body will be flown to New Jersey following a funeral service in Atlanta.
Houston was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey, next to her late father, John Russell Houston, who died in 2003 following a long battle with diabetes and heart disease.
Bobbi Kristina had been hospitalised for months in Atlanta — eventually being placed in hospice care — after being found in a manner grimly similar to the way her megastar mother died three years earlier.
A police report earlier this year described the incident as a drowning. In a statement on Monday, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said an autopsy will be needed to evaluate what led to the death of Bobbi Kristina, but the time that has elapsed since the autopsy will complicate the investigation. The medical examiner did not release a timeframe for the autopsy, but said additional lab testing might take several weeks.
“Interpretation of autopsy findings and other information will also be challenging,” the medical examiner’s office said. “However, an autopsy could be helpful to address questions which may arise about the cause of her unresponsiveness and eventual death.”
Bobbi Kristina was the only child of Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown.
“She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months,” Kristen Foster, a representative for the Houston family said Sunday.
Nick Gordon, Bobbi Kristina’s partner and adopted brother, who shared her townhome with her, said at the time it seemed Bobbi Kristina wasn’t breathing and lacked a pulse before help arrived.
“The Roswell Police Department continues its investigation into the circumstances preceding and surrounding the time of the original incident leading to her death,” the medical examiner said.
Michelle Gordon, the mother of Gordon, said in a statement on Monday night that the death of Bobbi Kristina has devastated her son and the rest of their family.
“Nick loved and cared for Krissi deeply, and he has suffered greatly each and every day they’ve been apart,” she said. “Nick and our family are in mourning, and we ask that you respect our privacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Houstons and the Browns during this difficult time.”
