Lucy-Bleu Knight's death has been ruled a suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner.
In a statement released Thursday, the medical examiner's office said the 25-year-old daughter of Slash's girlfriend Meegan Hodges died last month from hydrogen sulfide poisoning. The cause of her death was listed as suicide.
Suicide Prevention Resources and Crisis Counseling
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please seek professional help and call 9-8-8. The first three-digit mental health crisis hotline in the United States, 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the crisis text line.
Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless, flammable, highly toxic gas with a rotten egg odor. The CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states that exposure to this gas can cause extremely rapid unconsciousness and death.
Police found Knight unresponsive at a private residence on July 19 while conducting a welfare check, the medical examiner’s office said. She was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. that day. A deputy medical examiner examined her body on July 22, the day after her family announced her death on social media, and the medical examiner certified her cause of death on Thursday. A full report is expected to be ready by Sept. 10, the office said.
Guns N' Roses rocker Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, and Hodges posted identical statements on July 21 announcing Knight's death on social media. In them, they asked that speculation about his death be limited.
Hours after the family released the statement, a cryptic post appeared on Knight's Instagram account that fueled speculation about the timing and nature of her death in the comments section of the letter.
“Whether I made you feel excluded, manipulated or controlled you, told you to quit your day job from the comfort of receiving financial support from my parents, or drowned real issues in toxic positivity, I am sorry,” the post read. “Countless missed opportunities and connections due to a disgustingly large ego, an insecure heart, and a fear of being vulnerable. May my soul learn to evolve from my poor job of being Lucy-Bleu. Peace.”
Slash, 59, has two children, London and Cash, who are also musicians, with ex-wife Perla Ferrar. The heavy metal rocker and Hodges dated in the late 1980s and reportedly rekindled their romance after he filed for divorce from Ferrar in 2014. (He and Ferrar finalized their split in 2018.)
Return to Dust member London Hudson recently dedicated the group's tour with Chevelle to Knight, whom she paid tribute to on her Instagram grid.
Last Saturday, Hodges posted a tribute to his daughter and thanked his followers for their outpouring of love and condolences.
“You have touched all of our hearts like Lucy-Bleu has touched yours. She will always be missed, but never forgotten,” she wrote on Instagram. “It is impossible to forget Lucy-Bleu with all the light and energy she had on this planet. I love you, my girl.”
On Friday, she said Thursday was one of the worst days in her journey of grieving and healing.
“I woke up thinking everything about her was disappearing,” she wrote on Instagram Stories. “Her scent, her art, things I can’t find about her that mean so much to me. Her physical self is gone. This pain is [sic] Horrible. It's the worst. [sic] The feeling one can feel. I know I have to endure this pain until it lessens a little during the day or doesn't last as long. Some days are just the worst. [sic]. For all of you who come up to me and ask if I want to go for a walk or talk or just relax… Keep asking. I hope to be able to do something soon. I pray for a better day today. [sic] yesterday.”
A representative for Slash did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment Friday.
