Max Lomas, the man who found the late Bobbi Kristina Brown floating unconscious in her bathtub back in 2015, has died under eerily similar circumstances.
According to death investigation papers from the Mississippi State Medical Examiner obtained by PEOPLE, the 28-year-old was found by a friend in the bathroom of a home in Saltillo slumped over a toilet “with a syringe nearby.” Lomas had been seen alive by the friend 10 minutes earlier.
He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, the papers state.
A cause of death has not been determined for Lomas but toxicology reports — which take six weeks — are pending, the coroner told PEOPLE.
Lomas’ death is being investigated as a “probable overdose,” the papers state. “Heroin” was listed as the suspected drug in play.
PEOPLE has learned Lomas had recently completed three months of rehab in Mississippi. He had remained in the state following treatment, found a job and was thought to be doing well.
“He really worked the program,” a source close to Lomas who spoke to him weekly during his time in rehab told PEOPLE. “He had come so far. There was so much he wanted to do.”
Lomas’ friend Bobbi Kristina Brown died on July 26, 2015 at the age of 22.
She had never regained consciousness after Lomas found her in that bathroom, and spent a nightmarish six months of medically induced comas and hospice stays.
Lomas had lived off and on with Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston’s daughter — as well as her boyfriend Nick Gordon — and previously told PEOPLE that drugs, partying, fights and immense pain were constants in her life the weeks before it was brutally cut short.
“We were all pretty bad into drugs,” Lomas told PEOPLE exclusively in July 2016, describing his, Bobbi Kristina, and Gordon’s life together at a townhouse in Roswell, Georgia, following her mother’s death.
Like Gordon, Lomas says he was taken in by Houston as a troubled teen. At the time, he and Bobbi Kristina were romantically involved, but that ended when he went to jail in 2011 on a probation violation. “ loved that we were dating and always wanted me to protect Krissy,” explained Lomas, who was still incarcerated at the time of Houston’s death.
After Lomas’ release, Bobbi Kristina started dating Gordon. “Their relationship was bipolar,” Lomas claimed. “ extreme highs and lows and would fight, mostly about jealousy.”
Two weeks before Bobbi Kristina’s incident, the group decided they “were going to get off drugs live healthier lifestyles,” Lomas said. “We all went to the gym together. But it didn’t work out. We started using again.”
RELATED VIDEO: Friend Who Found Bobbi Kristina Brown Unconscious Reveals Shocking New Details of What Happened That Night
Then, on Jan. 31, 2015, an intense argument ensued between Gordon and Bobbi Kristina, according to Lomas, with each accusing the other of being unfaithful.
“Things were shaky,” said Lomas, admitting he was using drugs that night. “They were just trying to stay out of each other’s way.”
Gordon and Bobbi Kristina eventually made up and went upstairs. That is where Lomas later found Bobbi Kristina face-down and floating in a tub of cold water in the bathroom.
“I saw her there, and I picked her up out of the water and laid her on the ground,” he said of the shocking scene. “I saw the color of her face and that she wasn’t breathing. I called for Nick and called 911.”
Bobbi Kristina’s family has continuously blamed Gordon, 26, for her untimely death. Her conservators (including her father Bobby) served Gordon with a $40 million civil suit claiming he abused her during their relationship — a fact Gordon’s lawyers vehemently denied.
No charges were filed against Lomas.
In November 2016, Gordon was found civilly liable for Bobbi Kristina’s death and ordered to pay $36 million to her estate.
Lomas previously told PEOPLE in 2016 that he was no longer friends with Gordon, and that he was sober.
“I’m in utter disbelief because I knew he had gone and gotten help in Mississippi,” Garry Grace, a friend of Lomas and Gordon’s from high school, told PEOPLE Friday. “I didn’t have to worry about him because I knew he was safe.”
He added, “I am glad your pain is over. You can be with Krissy now. Rest easy.”