Nearly 20 years after the race riots that consumed Los Angeles after the acquittal of Los Angeles policeman videotaped savagely beating him, Rodney King drowned in his swimming pool early Sunday. King's fiancee, Cynthia Kelly, called 911 in the San Bernardino suburb of Rialto, California, about 5:25 a.m. At the house, police found King at the bottom of his pool and were unable to revive him.

King, who was 47 and had been in trouble with the law repeatedly, before and after his 1991 beating, had just published his memoirs in a book titled The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption. Kelly was a juror in the civil case that awarded King nearly four-million dollars in damages.

Authorities said there were no signs of foul play or injuries. According to TMZ, Kelly said he'd been drinking and smoking marijuana and was ranting, naked, in the backyard until she heard a "big splash" and came out of the house to find him in the pool.