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| Prudential center where the funeral is taking |
The family raised the possibility of holding a wake Thursday and a funeral
Friday at Newark's Prudential Center, which hosts college and professional
sporting events and seats about 18,000 people. City officials were awaiting the
family's arrival to complete the funeral planning.
Circumstances of Houston's death are still largely unknown and with details trickling out. Some reports have said that while Houston was found in the bathtub, she did not drown but instead died due to a mix of alcohol and prescription drugs in her system. But the L.A. County Coroner's office tells the Associated Press that nothing will be known for certain until toxicology results come back in a couple weeks.
Circumstances of Houston's death are still largely unknown and with details trickling out. Some reports have said that while Houston was found in the bathtub, she did not drown but instead died due to a mix of alcohol and prescription drugs in her system. But the L.A. County Coroner's office tells the Associated Press that nothing will be known for certain until toxicology results come back in a couple weeks.
The 48-year-old pop star was found dead in a bathtub in her
suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California on Saturday, hours before she
was supposed to appear at a pre-Grammy Awards gala.
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| Dead body of Whitney Houston |
Funeral arrangements were being made by Newark's Whigham
Funeral Home, which handled the 2003 funeral of Houston's father, John Houston,
according to the two people who spoke to AP.
A woman at the funeral home, where several police officers
were stationed, said she could neither confirm nor deny reports that it would
handle the arrangements. A white tent was set up leading into the funeral
home's rear entrance, and two opulent golden sarcophaguses stood at the front
entrance.
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| Prudential Centre |
About a dozen Houston fans went to the funeral home, where
they played her songs, sang and lit candles to remember her.
The Los Angeles coroner's office said Houston's body was
released to the family Monday morning, and police said the body was taken to a
Los Angeles-area airport in the afternoon.
Houston was born in Newark and was raised in nearby East
Orange. She began singing as a child at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, where
her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program
for many years. Her cousin singer Dionne Warwick also sang in its choir.
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| Bathroom where Whitney Huston Deid |
