Death of Cory Monteith



On July 13, 2013, Monteith was found dead in his room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver. He was 31 years old. Monteith was scheduled to check out that day following a seven-night stay, but when he failed to do so, hotel staff entered his room and discovered his body around noon. The Vancouver Police Department stated that the cause of death was not immediately apparent, but ruled out foul play. An autopsy was completed by the British Columbia Coroners Service on July 15. The preliminary autopsy report stated that Monteith died from "a mixed drug toxicity" consisting of heroin and alcohol, and that his death appeared to have been accidental. The final report, released by the British Columbia Coroners Service on October 2, 2013, confirmed these findings. It noted that Monteith also had codeine and morphine in his system at the time of his death, and that he was found with drug paraphernalia that included a spoon with drug residue and a used hypodermic needle, as well as two empty bottles of champagne. The coroner wrote that Monteith had experienced intermittent periods of drug abuse and abstinence throughout his life, and that "after a period of cessation from opioid drug use, a previously tolerated drug concentration level may become toxic and fatal. His stay in rehab only months before his death, and his attempt to stay off drugs resulted in his lowered tolerance to the drug.

Monteith's body was cremated in Vancouver on July 17, following a private viewing by his immediate family and girlfriend Lea Michele. On July 25, Michele and Glee creator Ryan Murphy held a celebration of life for Monteith in Los Angeles, attended by cast, crew, and creators of the show, as well as colleagues from the show's network and studio. After consultation with Michele, who also plays Monteith's love interest on Glee, showrunners postponed production of Glee's fifth season to August rather than late July. Consequently, the season premiered a week later than planned.The season's third episode, "The Quarterback", aired on October 10, 2013, and served as a tribute to Monteith, focusing on the death of his character Finn Hudson.The show then began a brief hiatus, which lasted until November 7, 2013, due to the extra time that was needed to decide how to proceed with the show following the death. After "The Quarterback" aired, Murphy noted that he had decided to "keep mentioning Finn...We don't just say this is done and we're never going to go back to it, so that resonates throughout the year."

This page is dedicated to Cory Monteith (May 11, 1982 – July 13, 2013)