Jo Mersa Marley Cause of Death Revealed 

Nearly six months after Jo Mersa Marley died at age 31, the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office has released new details about what led to his unexpected death.

Marley died of “acute asthma exacerbation” after being infected with rhinovirus or enterovirus, which often presents as symptoms for the common cold, according to new documents obtained by Rolling Stone.

The report states that Marley, grandson of Bob Marley and son of Stephen Marley, was found “unresponsive” in the parking lot of a Ross Dress for Less inside his vehicle on Dec. 26, 2022. The car’s engine was turned off, and he was pronounced dead after officers attempted to perform CPR.

The Medical Examiner’s Office states that Marley had a history of asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia and had not been taking his medication for his asthma diagnosis at the time of his death. He was also seen at a hospital in Florida in March, months prior to his death, for a chest abscess, per the report.

The report also indicates that Marley had spoken to his mother on Christmas Day, the day before his death, and “informed her he was feeling ill, ostensibly due to his asthma.” The body had no evidence of injury, though his lung showed signs of congestion, hyperexpansion, and increased mucus in its airwaves, along with “enlarged glottic tonsils” and black discoloration in his lungs, resulting from smoking.

“An acute asthma exacerbation due to viral illness is a common occurrence and considered a non-allergic event,” read the report. “Additionally, chronic smoking of combustible products such as tobacco or marijuana is dangerous in a person with asthma.”

A toxicology report detected THC, the chemical in marijuana, along with naloxone and 0.08% of ethanol in his body at the time of his death. (Naloxone is commonly used to reverse an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids, but it is unclear at this time why the drug was found in Marley’s system)

Marley was born in Jamaica in 1992 before moving to Miami at age 11. He was surrounded by music and as a kid, even taking the stage with his father and Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers (the group comprising his uncle Ziggy and aunts Sharon and Cedella). Often, as Marley told Rolling Stone in a 2014 interview, he and his cousin Daniel Bambaata Marley (Ziggy’s son) were tasked with singing the Melody Makers’ 1989 song, “Look Who’s Dancing.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014, Marley spoke about growing up in a musical environment.

“It was a very magical thing, seeing those people come around to the house and how the whole work process would happen,” he said. “I would come home and try to do homework, but I’d end up getting distracted and go peek in the studio. You would always want to run in and run out to see what was going on.”