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I know the knee-jerk reaction is to assume foul play, but I knew him a little bit and he was as healthy as an ox. Or at least he was several months ago the last time I saw him.

I don't know, but it would shock me to the bone if someone could truly get angry enough at a man like him, to try and hurt him. He knew like we all knew, Grooveshark was never going to last, but it reinforced the point that Napster proved and I think that was always one of the major goals of the project.

That being said, I wish all the best to the Grooveshark family. It's never easy to lose someone like that, it always is hard.



An unknown congenital heart defect seems more likely than someone killing him and leaving no visible signs. People with congenital defects can appear completely healthy right up until they die.


Coming off of such a stressful period with the lawsuit it may have been too much for a dormant underlying condition to handle.


A brain aneurysm can also do this, my friends mother in law died of one in her sleep while her husband slept next to her.


Yup. I know this all too well. When I was younger, my best friend was a soccer player and in great shape. He woke up one morning, went to take a shower before school, and just dropped dead in the shower. There was nothing anyone could do.

Undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.


I know the knee-jerk reaction is to assume foul play

What? Not at all. If I see a report of an untimely and otherwise mysterious death the most likely possibilities are some hidden medical condition or a drug/alcohol mishap. Murder isn't that common, or easy to disguise as an accident.

Sad loss for his family and friends.


The article pretty much rules this out, no idea where you got the foul play angle from:

> "Lori Greenberg, his mother, said Monday he had no health problems and she was told by police who investigated Sunday night that there was no evidence of foul play, injuries or drugs."


Actually, I wouldn't say the article rules out foul play at all. It simply states that the police found no evidence of foul play.

People can be killed in ways that are difficult to trace, especially before there is the benefit of autopsy results.

I am not suggesting that this is what happened in this case, I'm just saying that it is far from entirely ruled out.


That's a bit misleading. It says there was no evidence of drugs but then goes on to say that the toxicology report would take 2-3 months.

They probably just didn't see any drugs lying around. If he didn't have some sort of undiagnosed medical condition, he may have very well OD'd on something. Research chemicals, xanax and opiate combo, etc... It's fairly common for people to OD on those things and they're all readily available.


Toxicology results often take that long depending on how extensive the testing. Also people always jump right to the conclusion that drug abuse is suspected when they hear this. In a person his age and health with an unexpected death this type of test can be pretty standard and is often at the discretion of next of kin. These tests can help determine drug interactions and maybe assist someone in the future.

To give an anecdotal story. I use Diazepam to control muscle spasms and cramps caused by a neurological disorder.

I took my kids to an amusement park and took Dramamine (over the counter motion sickness medication) so I wouldn't get sick on the rides. About 20 minutes later I was a complete zombie, so bad I sat down and could not get back up because I was in such a stupor.

Turns out these two drugs have some serious interactions with each other, including sudden death and heart failure. To this day I consider myself lucky.


I know a lot of startup founders use stimulants like Adderall or modafinil to be more productive. It's not uncommon at all.


> It says there was no evidence of drugs but then goes on to say that the toxicology report would take 2-3 months.

Hard to believe it takes so long in the 21st century. Is that bureaucracy or science?


Probably just their estimate of the toxicology backlog in Gainesville so bureaucracy.


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I think you misread, that's not what he told his mom, that's what the police told his mom.


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When I was in high school, an exceptionally popular varsity athlete was killed in his sleep by an anyurism. It was profoundly shocking to realize that things like that could - and did - happen.


Seemingly-healthy 28 year olds don't typically die at all, much less in non-obvious ways. An unexpected death rarely involves foul play. I'm sure the police are not ruling out possibilities at this point, but I'm equally sure that they are proceeding with the most likely avenues first.


"No evidence" != "ruled out".


Well, there will be an autopsy to discover the cause of his death. Unattended deaths generally require them.

It appears to be Florida law, at least (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ...).




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