Erin Moran 'likely died' of complications of stage 4 cancer, autopsy reveals
(FoxNews.com) - An autopsy has revealed that Erin Moran “likely succumbed to complications of stage 4 cancer.”
“A joint investigation into Mrs. Moran’s death was conducted by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and the Harrison County Coroner’s Office. A subsequent autopsy revealed that Mrs. Moran likely succumbed to complications of stage 4 cancer,” Sheriff Rod Seelye said in a statement sent to Fox News.
Toxicology results are pending but no illegal narcotics were discovered at Moran’s Indiana residence, the statement revealed.
Moran, 56, was found dead Saturday by emergency responders after a dispatcher for the Harrison County sheriff's department received a 911 call.
The final days of Moran’s life were plagued with instability as the star shuffled around various locations in Harrison County while her fellow former child actors tried in vain to get her the help she needed.
According to the Indianapolis Star archives, the actress who played Joanie Cunningham on “Happy Days” was last known to be living at a Holiday Inn Express in Corydon, where she was spotted in September 2012.
Before that, it was reported the star had been staying in a trailer park with her husband Steve Fleischmann and his sick mother. The couple first settled in Indiana in 2011, the local paper reports.
Her distance from her California support system of former child stars may have contributed to her struggles, according to Paul Petersen, of the child-actor advocacy group A Minor Consideration.
“She was so far away in Indiana,” Petersen lamented in a Facebook post early Sunday morning. “The help she ran from was right here, as close as a call.”
Petersen, himself a former child star on “The Donna Reed Show,” said the group did its best for Moran.
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