Philip Seymour Hoffman may have been killed after injecting a deadly type of heroin, it has been claimed.
Investigators found eight empty bags stamped with 'Ace of Spades' and 'Ace of Hearts' inside the actor's Manhattan apartment, according to officials.
They usually contain a lethal mix of heroin laced with fentanyl - an opiate used to soothe the pain of cancer patients.
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Haunting: This photo taken January 19, 2014, shows Mr Hoffman posing for what may have been his final portrait at The Collective and Gibson Lounge Powered by CEG, during the
Sundance Film Festival, in Utah
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Split: Tragic Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman had separated from his longtime girlfriend Mimi O'Donnell, pictured with the actor in 2008, in the months leading up to his death
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Father-of-three: The 46-year-old, had three elementary-age children with the costume designer, Cooper, 10, left, Tallulah, 7, and Willa, 5
The card-inspired brand names are among hundreds of stamps used by drug distribution crews to mark products, but they haven't been seen in New York since 2008, according to CNN.
Their lethal contents - also known as 'Bud Ice', 'Income tax' and 'Theraflu' - have been linked to more than 100 deaths in America - with more three dozen deaths in Maryland since September.
Meanwhile, there have been almost 20 related deaths in Pennsylvania in this month alone - with officials estimating a further 22 people dying of heroin-fentanyl overdoses in Rhode Island during the first two weeks of this year, according to the Providence Journal.
Now, police are investigating whether the Oscar award-winning actor may have died after injecting the lethal concoction, according to a source.
Fox News reported a man has come forward claiming they he saw Hoffman buying drugs earlier in the evening.
The passerby claims he saw a 'very sweaty' Hoffman withdrawing a large sum of money from an ATM by his home before handing it over to two men wearing messenger bags.
The man reportedly added Hoffman looked 'like s**t'.
Police are now seeking surveillance videos from the bank.
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Tragic: The body of Philip Seymour Hoffman was removed from his apartment building just before 7 p.m. Sunday after he was reported dead
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Deadly: Investigators found eight empty bags stamped with 'Ace of Spades' and 'Ace of Hearts' inside the actor's Manhattan apartment, according to officials. They usually contain a lethal mix of heroin and fentanyl - also known as 'Bud Ice' (above)
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Risk: The lethal concoction - also referred to as 'Theraflu' - has been linked to more than 100 deaths in the US
It comes as a haunting last photo has captured 46-year-old Hoffman's torment following his split from his long-term girlfriend, Mimi O'Donnell, in recent months.
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN'S BRILLIANT CAREER
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Hoffman won an Oscar for his portrayal of the witty, theatrical Truman Capote in Capote in 2006 and received four Academy Awards nominations and several nominations for theater awards, including three Tonys.
He was equally acclaimed and productive, often appearing in at least two to three films a year, while managing an active life in the theater. He had been thriving for more than 20 years and no one doubted that a long, compelling run awaited him.
With a range and discipline more common among British performers than Americans, Hoffman was convincing whether comic or dramatic, loathsome or sympathetic, powerless or diabolical.
In one of his earliest movie roles, he played a spoiled prep school student in Scent of a Woman in 1992. A breakthrough came for him as a gay member of a porno film crew in Boogie Nights, one of several movies directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that Hoffman would eventually appear in. He played comic, off-kilter characters in Along Came Polly and The Big Lebowski.
He bantered unforgettably with Laura Linney as squabbling siblings in The Savages. He was grumpy and idealistic as rock critic Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. He was grumpy and cynical as baseball manager Art Howe in Moneyball.
In The Master, he was nominated for a 2013 Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role as the charismatic, controlling leader of a religious movement.
The film, partly inspired by the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, reunited the actor with Anderson.
He also received a 2009 supporting nomination for Doubt, as a priest who comes under suspicion because of his relationship with a boy, and a best supporting actor nomination for Charlie Wilson's War, as a CIA officer.
Many younger moviegoers know him as the scheming Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and he was reprising that role in the two-part sequel, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, for which his work was mostly completed. The films are scheduled for November 2014 and November 2015 releases.
On Broadway, he took on some of the stage's most ambitious parts - Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Jamie in Long Day's Journey Into Night and both leads in True West. All three performances were Tony nominated.
in 2013 Hoffman crossed to the other side of the footlights to direct Bob Glaudini's A Family for All Occasions for the Labyrinth Theatre Company, where he formerly served as co-artistic director. Hoffman has also directed Jesus Hopped the A Train and Our Lady of 121st Street for the company and received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions.
Hoffman's last public appearance was at the Sundance Film Festival last month, where two films he starred in were premieried - A Most Wanted Man and In God's Pocket.
Hoffman, who has three elementary-age children with the costume designer, also 46, began renting a $10,000-a-month apartment in Bethune Street in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in October.
And it was here his body was found Sunday morning by close friend and playwright David Bar Katz and assistant Isabella Wing-Davey, who had been asked to check up on him by Miss O'Donnell. The actor's estranged partner was later seen weeping as she entered the property.
On Sunday afternoon, a New York Police Department source told MailOnline: 'It is my understanding that Mr Hoffman and his girlfriend were separated.'
Mr Hoffman's last public appearance was at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in January, where he was promoting his movie, 'God's Pocket,' and also 'A Most Wanted Man.'
He appeared 'slightly disheveled and pasty,' according to the New York Post.
He had a five o'clock shadow, pale complexion and watery eyes, appearing altogether worn out.
He kept some press commitments, posing on the carpet with his Most Wanted co-stars Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe, dressed in baggy clothes.
However, he declined a number of interviews, with his representative telling reporters the actor 'needed a minute and didn't feel like coming down yet.'
Miss O'Donnell, Mr Hoffman's partner of 14 years, contacted Mr Katz after the actor failed to collect son Cooper, 10, and daughters Tallulah, 7, and Willa, 5, Sunday morning.
Mr Katz then, with WIng-Davey, went to check on the actor.
Wing-Davey has long had a close relationship with the star after meeting him through her actor father Mark Wing-Davey. Her cell phone has a recorded message asking callers to leave a message for Bella Wing-Davey and Phil.
It was Wing-Davey, a film-maker and writer, who called 911 to report the body. She was then photographed outside the apartment clutching her tan scarf to her face as she spoke to detectives with Mr Katz.
The pair found Mr Hoffman in his underwear on a bathroom floor at apartment 4D, 35 Bethune Street around 11:30 a.m. Allegedly, he had a syringe still in his arm.
Miss O'Donnell was later said to have arrived at the scene but was banned by cops from entering the bathroom, sources said.
After remaining in the apartment all day, the actor's body was finally taken from his home just before 7 p.m.
It later emerged that the night before he was found dead, Mr Hoffman enjoyed a cheeseburger with friends at one of his favorite restaurants.
In Touch reported the actor dined at West Village restaurant Automatic Slims with two other men from around 7 p.m. A witness told the magazine he was drinking cranberry and soda and seemed 'totally fine.'
'The friends he was with seemed like industry people. He had a cheeseburger. He was low-key and friendly and none of them looked like they were looking to party,' the witness said.
'He comes in occasionally and just keeps a low profile. He hardly ever drinks. Such a nice guy and very unexpected to hear this news.'
On Saturday, employees from one of his favorite places to take his kids - the Chocolate Bar on Eighth Avenue - reported seeing him looking 'really happy'.
'Everyone seems pretty shaken up,' said Kate St. Cyr, 24, the assistant manager told DNAinfo.
'We just saw him yesterday, he was fine,' she added. 'He's been in a great mood, really happy.'
'We just saw him yesterday, he was fine,' she added. 'He's been in a great mood, really happy.'
She described Hoffman as a 'really sweet man and dad' who would often take his children to the store for ice cream in the summer.
The actor had a specially close bond to his son Cooper who he regularly played weekend basketball with and was often photographed with at Knicks games in Madison Square Garden.
'He seemed to have a really great relationship with his kids,' St. Cyr went on. 'That's, I think, what's upsetting most of us. We feel really sad for his kids.'
However, the next day a neighbor told Fox he had seen the star earlier that day buying tissues and soda at a nearby grocery store.
The neighbor added Hoffman looked 'grey' and 'not well' before he joined friends for his low-key dinner.
'A Most Wanted Man' director Anton Corbijn said he was shocked to hear about the death of the actor who just two weeks ago seemed 'in a good place.'
'We spent some time together only [two] weeks ago and he seemed in a good place despite some issues he had to deal with,' Mr Corbijn told the Post.
'He was not only the most gifted actor I ever worked with (and judging by the legacy he leaves behind I am certain I share this with most if not all directors who were fortunate enough to work with him), he had also become an incredibly inspiring and supportive friend.
'I am so terribly sad as I find it impossible to comprehend what happened today and to collect my thoughts properly.'
He added: 'I have to think about Mimi and the children and [I] wish them much strength coping with the loss of this truly great man as a father and partner.'
Earlier, a neighbor at the $4.4 million apartment Mr Hoffman and Miss O'Donnell owned together in Jane Street, less than three blocks away from his rental home, described him as 'a troubled soul' to the New York Post.
The couple bought the three-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath apartment in 2008.
'He did not look well recently — like he was out of it,' the woman said. 'I think him and his woman friend were off and on.'
'He lived down here for a long time and was well liked, but everyone knew he had substance-abuse problems,' she added.
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Evidence: A New York City Police Department investigator removes a bag of evidence from the actor's apartment, where investigators spent the day examining the scene
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