Presley Gerber, the 27-year-old son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, was found dead in his room at a Santa Monica rehab facility, and the circumstances surrounding his final hours are drawing scrutiny.
Gerber's body was discovered near the bed, but not on it, inside his room at Resolutions Living, a $7.7 million rehabilitation home in Santa Monica, California, on Sunday night, Sept. 20. He had checked into the facility the same weekend he was pronounced dead, and Page Six reported he was under the influence of a substance when he arrived.
An official cause of death has not been cited. Fentanyl has not come up in the investigation so far. But 911 dispatch audio obtained by Page Six revealed that Gerber was treated for a suspected overdose after going into cardiac arrest, and his family believes an overdose caused his death.
One detail stands out above the rest. A doctor reportedly prescribed ketamine to Gerber despite his having what sources described as a "regular problem" with the drug. Which doctor wrote that prescription, and under what clinical reasoning, remains unanswered.
Gerber had a 24/7 sober coach in the months leading up to his death, someone described as "very present" in his life. Whether that coach was at Resolutions Living when Gerber died is unclear. The gap between the level of supervision Gerber appeared to have and the outcome that followed raises an obvious question: how does a young man with round-the-clock sobriety support, who checks into a rehab facility, end up dead within hours?
The Santa Monica Police Department is investigating the death as a suspected overdose with no indication of foul play. Gerber checked in Saturday night and was found deceased the following morning at approximately 9:35 a.m. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has deferred a cause-of-death determination pending additional testing.
Nicholas Kardaris, Ph.D., an addiction expert, cautioned against premature conclusions about liability or cause.
"People are in rehab because they're struggling with addiction. It doesn't mean they're cured of their addiction."
That is true as far as it goes. But it does not answer the harder question, whether the people responsible for Gerber's care at Resolutions Living met the standard families pay $7.7 million facilities to uphold. When a patient arrives visibly under the influence and suffers cardiac arrest within a day, the facility's protocols deserve examination, not just sympathy.
A source close to Gerber told Page Six exclusively that the young model "seemed off" in the weeks before his death and "didn't seem like himself." Those close to him noticed something was wrong, but the spiral continued.
Gerber's struggles with substance abuse were not new. He received a DUI in 2018, which put him on probation for three years. His history with drugs and alcohol was well documented, and he had spoken publicly about his battles. The death of a young public figure under such circumstances is always a grim reminder of how addiction can overwhelm even those with every available resource, a reality that echoes other recent cases where a celebrity's cause of death raised difficult questions.
Last November, Gerber had addressed his absence from social media, telling followers he "had to step back and take care of my own mental health for a bit." He expressed his intention to return "stronger, clearer, more intentional than ever." He launched what he called "Mental Health Mondays" on social media, describing the effort's purpose as wanting "to spark real conversations about the stuff most people hide."
Those words now read as a painful record of a young man who understood his own vulnerability and tried to address it publicly, and still could not outrun it.
Gerber's younger sister, Kaia Gerber, is said to be struggling deeply with the loss. A source described the siblings as "insanely close."
"I don't know how she's going to go on without him."
A family representative asked for privacy, saying simply that the family is enduring "a very difficult and painful time." Gerber's parents, supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber, have not made public statements beyond that request.
Model Josie Canseco, who knew Gerber personally, posted a public tribute. Canseco wrote: "Love you Pres. Doesn't feel real.. you deserved better than this, I'm so sorry it all got to this point.. we'll miss you forever." The phrase "you deserved better than this" captures a sentiment that will hang over this case until the investigation produces answers.
The loss of a 27-year-old under these circumstances is the kind of story that cuts across celebrity gossip and into a harder national conversation about addiction treatment, accountability in high-end rehab, and whether the people closest to someone in crisis have any real power to intervene. It is a conversation that surfaces every time a prominent figure dies under circumstances that demand answers.
Several critical facts remain unknown. What substance was Gerber under the influence of when he arrived at Resolutions Living? Were staff members present or checking on him in the hours before his body was found? What intake protocols did the facility follow for a patient who arrived impaired? And who is the doctor who prescribed ketamine to a patient with a known dependency on the drug?
The investigation's scope, and which agency is leading it, has not been fully detailed. The Santa Monica Police Department has said there is no indication of foul play, but ruling out criminal conduct is not the same as answering whether Gerber received competent care. Those are different questions, and as the public has seen in other cases involving silence around a figure's condition, unanswered questions do not age well.
Presley Gerber had money, family, a sober coach, and a rehab bed. He had every advantage the system offers. If all of that was not enough to keep a 27-year-old alive for one weekend, the system owes his family, and the public, an explanation.
