Country singer Craig Strickland died of hypothermia, according to an official autopsy report released Thursday.
The Backroad Anthem frontman’s death was also ruled accidental by the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office, E! reported.
Strickland, 29, was found dead on Jan. 4 over a week after his boat capsized in Oklahoma’s Kaw Lake during a violent winter storm.
The lead singer/guitarist and his friend, Chase Morland, had left Dec. 26, 2015, for a duck hunting trip in Kay County, Oklahoma, despite weather forecasts of Winter Storm Goliath. Their boat was found in the lake north of Tulsa just after midnight on the morning of Dec. 28. Morland also died in the storm, and only Strickland’s dog, Sam, survived the trip.
Last week, Strickland’s widow, Helen, posted a photo on Instagram showing her sitting by his gravestone in a ray of sunshine.
“I know you have your problems, cause everybody’s got ’em. If you get lost in your sorrows, then you could hit rock bottom,” she wrote, quoting lyrics from Christian rock band Sanctus Real’s track “Lay It Down.”
“But if you smile in the face of [tribulation], and you learn to pray when you wanna complain, stand up straight when the Earth is shaking, and just keep breathing when you feel afraid …”
See her post below.
http://www.instagram.com/p/BDMdYTUnZDw/?taken-by=helenelizabethstrickland