Video: 'NBC Dateline - on the Life and Death of Sonny Bono - Jan., 1998'

(Monday, January 5, 1998, at approximately 2:00 p.m. PST) — U.S. Representative Sonny Bono, whose unexpected career in Republican politics followed a successful career as a singer and television star with his former wife Cher, was killed this afternoon when he crashed into a tree while skiing on the Nevada side of Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California.

Bono was 62 years old.

The autopsy performed by the Douglas County Coroner showed no indication of any substances or alcohol.