The Prince estate picture just got slightly less confusing. Sort of.
A DNA test has determined a Colorado prison inmate is not the son of the late music legend Prince, a source who was briefed on the test results told NBC News Wednesday.
Carlin Q. Williams, 39, through his attorney in early May claimed he was Prince’s son, which if true would have entitled him to at least part of Prince’s estimated $300 million estate. A second source also confirmed to NBC News that the test result was negative.
The website TMZ first reported the DNA test results, citing a source.
A publicist for Williams’ attorney declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Bremer Trust, the court-appointed special administrator of Prince’s estate, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Williams’ mother, Marsha Henson, wrote in a court affidavit that she had unprotected sex with Prince, whose full name is Prince Rogers Nelson, in a Missouri hotel room in 1976.
OK, it is just a TMZ report thus far, but they’re pretty good at this, and NBC is running with it.
This seemed a little too convenient from the beginning. That Williams didn’t decide to use Prince as a “get out of jail somehow” card until after the singer’s death made the claim seem very dubious to many. In most cases, people would be after some financial support before heading to federal prison.
There are some new players in the mix now:
Another attorney suggested in a letter to a Minnesota court in May that there may be two other possible heirs to Prince’s estate — the granddaughter and daughter of a man the lawyer said is Prince’s half-brother. Affidavits on behalf of the grandniece and daughter of Prince’s alleged half-brother, Duane Nelson, were filed in court last month, an attorney said.
The DNA labs are going to be busy for a while figuring this one out.
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