Stallone begs for end of 'speculation' about son's death

Sylvester Stallone appealed Monday for an end to "speculation and questionable reporting" about his son's death, while police and the coroner investigate what killed Sage Stallone last week.

Sage Stallone, 36, was found dead in his Los Angeles home Friday by his housekeeper, who was asked by Stallone's mother to check on him after his lawyer and friend, George Braunstein, was unable to reach him, Braunstein told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell on Monday.

Sylvester Stallone, in a statement to CNN Monday, referred to celebrity news websites' speculation about his son using drugs.

"This is in reference to the speculation and questionable reporting surrounding the death of my son Sage," Stallone said. "Because when a parent loses a child there is no greater pain. Therefore I am imploring people to respect my wonderfully talented son's memory and feel compassion for his loving mother Sasha, because this agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives. Sage was our first child and the center of our universe and I am humbly begging for all to have my son's memory and soul left in peace."

The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, which completed the autopsy Sunday, declined to release any preliminary findings at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department, which is conducting its own investigation, a coroner's spokesman said Monday.

It could take six weeks for toxicology tests, which would show if drug use was involved, to be completed by the coroner's lab, the spokesman said.

While the coroner is in charge of the death investigation, detectives from the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division also routinely get involved in high-profile deaths, a police spokesman said.

Sage Stallone was not known for going out to clubs and partying, Braunstein said. His vices were candy bars and soda, he said.

Sudden celebrity deaths often draw early speculation about drug involvement in Hollywood, but in several recent cases the cause of death proved to be natural.

Although the investigation into actor Corey Haim's death two years ago began as a "suspected prescription medication overdose," toxicology tests "revealed no significant contributing factors" from drugs, the coroner later concluded. Pneumonia, not drug abuse, killed Haim.

Similar speculation about drug use followed the December 2009 death of actress Brittany Murphy. The coroner eventually ruled that Murphy died from a combination of pneumonia, an iron deficiency and multiple drug intoxication. The drugs involved are legal and are used to treat respiratory infections, according to the autopsy report