Authorities Dig Deeper In Festival Deaths

NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) – Outdoor deaths at this weekend's music festivals have kept officials seeking answers as to how big a factor sweltering temperatures played a part.

Frederick Stapleton, a 33-year-old security guard at the CMA Music Festival. Stapleton was found dead inside a closed medical tent at the Nashville festival Friday.

Early Sunday morning, Bonnaroo concertgoer David Matthew Sloan, 29, of Wilmington, N.C., died at the music festival in Coffee County. 

Finally, A 54-year-old homeless man was found dead Sunday night behind some bushes on Fourth Avenue North near Municipal Auditorium.

Nashville's higher than average temperatures are believed to be a large factor in the deaths. Over the weekend, music fans endured temperatures as high as 95 degrees.

Autopsies are still incomplete, but preliminary results show both the homeless man and Stapleton died of natural causes, Metro Police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford said according to The Tennessean News.

"Both of them had pre-existing medical conditions," she said. Early autopsy reports revealed heart conditions in both men; preliminary studies show Stapleton also suffered from high blood pressure, Mumford said.

Assistant Davidson County Medical Examiner Feng Li said the lab studies that will definitively say what killed Stapleton haven't been completed.

"Heat definitely contributed" to his death, Li said according to the Tennessean News.

Authorities said Stapleton went on duty at 6 p.m. He had not been working during the heat of the day. The tent where Stapleton's body was found was used to treat fans with medical problems during the day but was not staffed at night.

At Bonnaroo, concertgoers took Sloan to a medical tent at the festival during the night, said Capt. Frank Watkins with the Coffee County Sheriff's Office. He said Sloan was unresponsive, so he was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Manchester where he was pronounced dead.

Watkins said the cause of Sloan's death is still under investigation. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers

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