Heklina, the stage name of Stefan Grygelko, was a San Francisco drag performer who was found dead in a flat in Soho Square, central London, on 3 April 2023. She was 55. More than three years later, an inquest has recorded that she died of acute mixed drug toxicity.
Ms Grygelko had travelled to London with her friend and collaborator Peaches Christ to perform Mommie Queerest, their drag parody, at the Soho Theatre. It was Peaches Christ who found her at the Soho Square flat on 3 April 2023, according to the account recorded when the death was first reported.
The inquest hearing took place in London on 15 September 2026. Its conclusion brings the formal process that followed the discovery in Soho to a close, although, as set out below, parts of the wider public account remain incomplete on the record as published to date.
The inquest
The inquest concluded that Heklina died from acute mixed drug toxicity. Toxicology recorded several substances in her system, which the inquest determined had been consumed voluntarily over a period of around 48 hours. That finding is stated here in clinical terms only, as recorded.
The Metropolitan Police position recorded alongside the inquest outcome was that officers had found no evidence to suggest third-party involvement and no evidence that the death was suspicious. On the facts as recorded, the inquest could establish a cause of death and the voluntary nature of the consumption over the period described. What it did not establish, on the evidence described, was any third-party involvement in the death.
The police said the inquest finding closes the criminal investigation. No charges are recorded in connection with the death on the account published to date, and no finding of suspicion is recorded against any person.
The police review
The handling of the investigation had been criticised by Heklina’s friends and supporters, who said progress and communication had been too slow. In 2025, more than 100 people protested outside New Scotland Yard to demand answers. Peaches Christ told the BBC at the time that she felt she had been ignored when she asked police about the case.
The Metropolitan Police has apologised to Heklina’s next of kin. It said a full review of the investigation was under way to establish whether any opportunities had been missed. That is the review position as recorded to date: an apology has been made and a review has been described as under way. This report does not go beyond that recorded position.
What remains unresolved
CCTV footage recorded three men leaving the flat in the early hours of 3 April 2023. The footage was not released publicly until January 2025, almost two years after Heklina’s death. The men have not been publicly identified and no charges have been brought in connection with the footage as recorded.
Stated plainly, the public record described to date does not name the three men, does not attribute a role to them in the death, and does not record that they have been charged. Their identities and any relevance to the events of that night remain unestablished on the published account. No further detail about them is asserted here, because none is established in the material relied on for this report.
The case drew sustained attention in London and beyond because Heklina was an established performer with a long-standing audience, because she had come to the capital for a scheduled theatre run, and because questions about the CCTV footage and the pace of communication persisted for so long in public. For colleagues in the drag community, the inquest conclusion closes the central question of cause of death, even though the unidentified-men footage remains part of the public record without a published resolution.
