Authorities are said to be broadening their investigation in the Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown case.
Among other things, according to media reports, they are looking at injuries found on her face and mouth after the daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown was found face down in a bathtub of her Roswell, Ga., home on January 31.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “the investigation is widening and may be focusing on more than one person.” No has been charged in connection with the investigation.
TMZ reported earlier this week that police were looking at Bobby Kristina's relationship with partner Nick Gordon.
Gordon reportedly has a lawyer, but hasn't spoken publicly since Bobbi Kristina was found by friend Maxwell Lomas. Lomas called 911, and Gordon is said to have administered CPR.
Gordon, 25, has a contentious relationship with both sides of Bobbi Kristina's family, and reportedly got into a shoving match with her father in her hospital room. Director Tyler Perry de-escalated the conflict, but Gordon was reportedly barred from seeing Bobbi Kristina after she was transferred to Emory University Hospital, where she remains in a medically induced coma.
Reports now say Bobbi Kristina's relationship with Gordon was sometimes violent.
In 2012, an unidentified family member told People: “He's one of the only people who can actually get through to her sometimes, and I think he sometimes uses that to his advantage. He has the ability to influence her.”
There are many unanswered questions still swirling around Bobbi Kristina, 21, who wasn't just estranged from her maternal grandmother, Cissy Houston, and her aunt, Pat Houston - the executor of Whitney's estate - but from her father as well.
Was her isolation one of the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, or did Bobbi Kristina push family members away because of the way she thought they treated Whitney - the one person with whom she was exceptionally close?
The question is complicated by uncertainty about the status of Bobbi Kristina's marriage to Gordon.
Brown's attorney issued a statement declaring Gordon and Bobbi Kristina were never married. The immediate ramification: Should Bobbi Kristina die, Brown would be recognised as her next of kin and inherit Houston's estate, valued at some $20 million. Daphne Barak wrote a first-person account of her relationship with Bobbi Kristina and Gordon for the Daily Mail. She insisted Gordon and Bobbi Kristina had indeed gotten married last January. “While her father rushed out a statement insisting Bobbi was not married - the union would mean Nick was her nearest relative and so would inherit - Bobbi repeatedly told me that they were,” Barak wrote. “Stina, as Whitney affectionately called her daughter, told me: 'We went in front of a judge because we wanted it done.'“
No marriage licence for the couple was found in Fulton County, where they were living when they announced their nuptials, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. But the paper noted they could have got married elsewhere. There are 158 counties in Georgia alone. Barak also wrote that she believed Bobbi Kristina and Gordon were abusing oxycodone when they visited her in California last year:
Bobbi Kristina admitted that living with Whitney could be traumatic. She and Nick saw her passing out from drugs - sometimes for days on end. At times, they were terrified she would die.
Most news organisations and celebrity sites reporting on Bobbi Kristina have referred to Gordon as her boyfriend since Brown's attorney released a statement declaring they were not married, a seeming over-correction. Both Hollywood Life and ABC News have stuck with the more ambiguous term “partner.” Bobbi Kristina refers to herself as Bobbi Kristina Houston Gordon in her Instagram profile.
Much of the tragedy surrounding Bobbi Kristina's circumstances centres on the eerie similarities to the worst parts of her mother's life. While information about her medical condition and relationships is about as clear as mud, a picture has emerged of a woman falling victim to the same unshakable demons that followed Houston: drugs and a toxic relationship with a man her family vehemently dislikes.
Remember, Brown was accused of being abusive toward Houston as well. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Houston revealed Brown slapped her once and treated her with chilling contempt. She recounted the story of their return to their home following a birthday party she threw for Brown.
“He spit on me,” Houston said. “He actually spit on me.” She told Winfrey that Bobbi Kristina witnessed the incident. It's possible Bobbi Kristina ended up following her mother's cycle of abuse, but it's difficult to say with certainty. There's just circumstantial evidence that points to that conclusion.
What is certain is that the Houstons and Browns are beginning to resemble a show-business version of the Hatfields and the McCoys. According to TMZ, the families are already at war over funeral plans for Bobbi Kristina.
WASHINGTON POST-BLOOMBERG