Last year, on August 20, Luke Bell’s family and friends reported him missing in Tucson, Arizona, while on a trip with his friend and collaborator Matt Kinman. Kinman explained his disappearance in a chat with Saving Country Music by saying:
“We came down here to Arizona to work down here, play some music, and he just took off. He was in the back of the truck. I went in to get something to eat. I came out, and he’d got out of the truck and left.”
A week later, a passerby found Bell’s body in a parking structure ‘not far from where he disappeared.’ A following autopsy and toxicology report identified the cause of death for the 32-year-old singer as a fentanyl overdose.
Adding that Bell had also been drinking, the medical examiner responsible for his autopsy wrote in his death report:
“In consideration of the known circumstances surrounding this death, the available medical history, and the examination of the remains, the cause of death is ascribed to fentanyl intoxication. The manner of death is accident.”
News revealed that the country singer had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was undergoing medical treatment. Saving Country Music wrote that his ‘mental state took a turn for the worse’ in the last few months of his life.
Shortly after his death, people in Bell’s circle talked about his mental health problems on different platforms. While his family informed People that the singer’s mental issues ‘progressed after his father’s death in 2015,’ his manager Brian Buchanan told TMZ:
“Luke fought this as hard as he could, but the disease got the better of him. When he was beating the disease, he was the sweetest and most generous guy. He’s found peace now, and there’s some comfort.”
Bell’s funeral was held privately in Cody, Wyoming, on September 9, 2022. Later, a gathering was organized at the Circle P Ranch in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, where musicians and fans paid tribute to the late singer.