Story highlights Hoffman was still wearing his glasses on his head when he was found, two sources say 
 
 Police find close to 50 envelopes of what's believed to be heroin, the sources say 
 
 Sources: His ex-partner said she saw him Saturday afternoon and thought he was high 
 
 Law enforcement sources tell CNN that a needle was found in Hoffman's arm 
 
 Police investigating the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman have found close to 50 envelopes of what they believe is heroin in his Manhattan apartment, two law enforcement sources familiar with the inquiry said Monday. 
 
 A number of used syringes, prescription drugs and empty bags that authorities suspect used to hold heroin also were found in the apartment where Hoffman, 46, was found dead Sunday of an apparent drug overdose on the bathroom floor with a syringe in his left arm, the sources said. 
 
 The New York medical examiner's office is conducting an autopsy, according to law enforcement sources. 
 
 "We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Phil and appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received from everyone," Hoffman's family said in a statement. "This is a tragic and sudden loss and we ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grieving." 
 
 The Oscar-winning actor last talked with someone at 8 p.m. Saturday, as far as authorities have determined, a law enforcement official said. 
 
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 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Philip Seymour Hoffman appears in 2013's "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Hoffman played the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, the head gamemaker in the film. He was expected to appear in more films of the "Hunger Games" franchise, but he was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on February 2. Hoffman died of acute mixed drug intoxication , the New York medical examiner's office said. Click through the gallery for more highlights of his career. Hide Caption 1 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman appears in 2012's "A Late Quartet." He reportedly learned how to play the violin during his role as a member of a string quartet. He told the Huffington Post that "I really got into the violin thing, because it's not acting, and I got off on that." Hide Caption 2 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman appears with Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master" (2012). He received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in the supporting actor category for his work in the film. Hide Caption 3 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – 
 
 Hoffman plays manager Art Howe in the 2011 hit "Moneyball." The real Art Howe was reportedly not pleased with how he was portrayed in the film but told TMZ Sports he didn't blame Hoffman. "He was just playing the part he was given," Howe said. Hide Caption 4 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays a DJ known as The Count in 2009's "Pirate Radio." Hide Caption 5 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – In 2008's "Doubt," Hoffman plays Father Brendan Flynn, a Catholic priest accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male student. This was yet another film that got Hoffman supporting actor nominations for the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Hide Caption 6 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays Owen Davian in 2006's "Mission: Impossible III." The actor told AOL at the time that while an action film was not usually his type of role, "it was just one of those things where all the ingredients seemed right." Hide Caption 7 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays the title role in 2005's "Capote." He won the Oscar for best actor in a leading role for his performance as Truman Capote, who wrote "In Cold Blood." Hoffman also won a Golden Globe for the role. Hide Caption 8 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays a phone sex-line supervisor and mattress store owner in 2002's "Punch-Drunk Love." Hide Caption 9 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays Lester Bangs in 2000's "Almost Famous." He delivers one of the film's most memorable scenes when he advises Patrick Fugit's character, William Miller, that "the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool." Hide Caption 10 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman appears with Rebecca Pidgeon in 2000's "State and Main." He plays a screenwriter suffering from writer's block. Hide Caption 11 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Jude Law and Hoffman share a scene in 1999's "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Hoffman was hailed as a scene stealer in the psychological thriller set in Italy. Hide Caption 12 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman in 1998's comedy-drama "Happiness." Hide Caption 13 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays Brandt, Mr. Lebowski's personal assistant, in the 1998 cult comedy hit "The Big Lebowski." Hide Caption 14 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman played the slightly creepy production assistant Scotty in 1997's "Boogie Nights," with Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly. Hide Caption 15 of 16 Photos: Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman: Master of film – Hoffman plays George Willis Jr. in 1992's "Scent of a Woman." He is credited as Philip S. Hoffman in the movie. Hide Caption 16 of 16 
 
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 He was expected to pick up his children Sunday but didn't show up, the official said. Playwright David Katz and another person went to the apartment and found him dead, the official said. 
 
 Police officers found him in a T-shirt and shorts with his eyeglasses still on his head. 
 
 Police also found several empty bags branded "Ace of Hearts" -- a street name for heroin -- in the apartment, two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told CNN. 
 
 Also in the apartment were close to 50 envelopes, branded "Ace of Spades," containing what is believed to be heroin, the two sources said. 
 
 Investigators also found in the apartment, which was leased from a friend, according to the two sources: 
 
 • More than 20 used syringes in a plastic cup. 
 
 • Several other bags containing white powder. 
 
 • Prescription drugs, including the blood-pressure medication clonidine hydrochloride; the addiction-treatment drug buprenorphine; Vyvanse, a drug used to treat attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder; hydroxyzine, which can be used to treat anxiety; and methocarbamol, a muscle relaxer. Authorities are investigating whether Hoffman had prescriptions for these drugs, the sources said. 
 
 Timeline of Hoffman's final days, hours 
 
 The law enforcement sources told CNN that investigators have begun to piece together where Hoffman was in the days before his death by talking to his family and friends. 
 
 An assistant for Hoffman told police she saw him Friday at his apartment and there was nothing out of the ordinary. He also seemed fine when she spoke to him on Saturday at about 1:30 p.m. ET. 
 
 But Mimi O'Donnell, Hoffman's ex-partner, told authorities that when she saw him near his apartment at 2 p.m. Saturday she thought he appeared to be high. 
 
 O'Donnell said she spoke with him on the phone about six hours later and again thought he seemed high, the sources said. 
 
 The next morning, on Sunday, Hoffman failed to show up at her home to pick up their three children. 
 
 At 11 a.m. she asked Katz to go to Hoffman's apartment. He called police 30 minutes later. 
 
 Investigators, working on the theory that Hoffman's death was a drug overdose, are now trying to find exactly where he bought the drugs, the sources said. 
 
 This will involve searching his phone in addition to tracking his movements, the sources told CNN. 
 
 Authorities also are looking into whether anyone was with the actor when he died, law enforcement officials said. 
 
 Hoffman loved 'deep, dense characters' 
 
 Hoffman won an Academy Award for best actor for the 2005 biopic "Capote" and drew critical acclaim for his roles in a wide variety of films. 
 
 He was a beefy 5-foot-10-inch man but was convincing as the slight, 5-foot-3-inch Truman Capote. He had a booming voice like a deity's but often played schlumpy, conflicted characters. 
 
 "He just loved those deep, dense characters. That's where I think he found his true calling," said Bradley Jacobs, a senior editor of Us Weekly. 
 
 Hoffman's big break in Hollywood came with a small role as Chris O'Donnell's classmate in the 1992 film "Scent of a Woman." 
 
 For years, Hoffman was the kind of anonymous character actor who earned critical raves but was often unnoticed by the general public. He used his abilities to take chances with such directors as a then-unknown Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom he worked in "Hard Eight" (and several ensuing films) and Todd Solondz ("Happiness"). 
 
 "I think about that a lot," he told Esquire in 2012 of his anonymity. "I feel it cracking lately, the older I'm getting. I think I'm less anonymous than I was." 
 
 As an actor, Hoffman could be heartfelt and giving, as with his male nurse in "Magnolia" or rock critic in "Almost Famous," or creepily Machiavellian, like the gamemaster in the latest "Hunger Games" movie or a "Mission: Impossible" movie villain. 
 
 Cameron Crowe, who directed "Almost Famous," said a notable scene in which Hoffman's character Lester Bangs speaks with a young journalist about being uncool was not what Crowe had initially envisioned. He said in between takes Hoffman listened through his headphones to taped interviews with Bangs, a well-known rock music writer who died in 1982. Hoffman didn't speak. 
 
 "When the scene was over, I realized that Hoffman had pulled off a magic trick. He'd leapt over the words and the script, and gone hunting for the soul and compassion of the private Lester, the one only a few of us had ever met," Crowe wrote on his website. "The crew and I will always be grateful for that front-row seat to his genius." 
 
 Hoffman also appeared in "Charlie Wilson's War," "Doubt" and "The Master," for which he was nominated as best supporting actor. 
 
 He appeared last month at the Sundance Film Festival, where a movie he starred in, "God's Pocket," premiered. 
 
 "He seemed really in good spirits, and it's just so shocking," said CNN Entertainment commentator Krista Smith, who interviewed Hoffman at the festival. "Because, just looking at his body of work and knowing how many actors revered him and how they look up to him. ... The one thing that was so special about him is that he crossed all platforms. ... Every genre, he managed to fit in and just be brilliant at whatever he was doing." 
 
 Beloved resident of New York neighborhood 
 
 But despite his love of performance, Hoffman was a private person who rarely spoke about his family, Jacobs said. 
 
 In New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood, where he lived, it was common to see the actor riding a bicycle and walking his children to the public school they attended. 
 
 "He'd go quietly about his business with his children. I still remember the day he won the Oscar, him walking his kids to school, not long after. And people were giving him high fives," said CNN's Rose Arce, whose daughter attended school with Hoffman's children. 
 
 After his Oscar win at the Academy Awards in 2006, Hoffman thanked his mother for taking him to his first play. 
 
 "She brought up four kids alone, and she deserves a congratulations for that. ... And she took me to my first play, and she stayed up with me and watched the NCAA Final Four, and my passions, her passions became my passions. And, you know, be proud, Mom, because I'm proud of you, and we're here tonight, and it's so good," he said in his acceptance speech. 
 
 Hoffman's father was a salesman, and his mother was a family court judge, according to a biography on the Turner Classic Movies website. He landed his first professional stage role before graduating from high school and went on to study acting at New York University. 
 
 Hoffman stayed active on stage even as his star rose in Hollywood. He starred in a Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman" in 2012 and was co-artistic director of the Labyrinth Theater Company in New York. 
 
 Battling addiction 
 
 Last year, Hoffman revealed that he had entered rehab to deal with a drug problem, telling TMZ that he'd kicked a substance abuse habit for 23 years but recently relapsed. 
 
 In a 2011 interview with "60 Minutes," he discussed his past struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. 
 
 "Anything I could get my hands on, I liked it all," he said. 
 
 Asked why he decided to sober up, he replied, "You get panicked. ... I was 22, and I got panicked for my life, it really was, it was just that. And I always think, 'God, I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden are beautiful and famous and rich.' I'm like, 'Oh, my God. I'd be dead.' " 
 
 According to TMZ, Hoffman said last year that he'd fallen off the wagon, started taking prescription pills and slipped into snorting heroin. 
 
 The actor's public comments about his battle with substance abuse illustrate the struggles many addicts face, according to HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction specialist. 
 
 "Someone with opiate addiction, they are doing pushups their whole lives. And they must work on it all the time. And even working on it, there's a high probability of relapse. And God willing, they get adequate treatment, and they re-engage in treatment, and things go well," Pinsky said. "But often, it's a frequently fatal condition. We just simply have to continually remind ourselves of that. And now it has taken a glorious, glorious talent from us." 
 
 After he returned from rehab, Hoffman rented the apartment where his body was found Sunday, two neighbors said. The rest of his family lived elsewhere in the neighborhood. 
 
 'He was a giant talent' 
 
 Word of Hoffman's death sparked a flood of reactions from actors, directors, studio chiefs and fans. 
 
 "This is a horrible day for those who worked with Philip," actor Tom Hanks said in a prepared statement. "He was a giant talent. Our hearts are open for his family." 
 
 Lionsgate, the studio behind "The Hunger Games" movies, described Hoffman as "a singular talent and one of the most gifted actors of our generation." 
 
 Robert De Niro, who starred opposite Hoffman in the 1999 movie "Flawless," said he was "very, very saddened" by Hoffman's death. 
 
 "This is one of those times where you say 'this just shouldn't be. He was so young and gifted and had so much going, so much to live for.' " 
 
 For Mike Nichols, who directed Hoffman in his Oscar-nominated turn in "Charlie Wilson's War," there were no words, just grief. 
 
 "No words for this. He was too great and we're too shattered," he said in an e-mailed statement. 
 
 Heroin use on the rise, authorities warn 
 
 Authorities have warned that heroin addiction is soaring and noted an uptick in the availability of the drug. 
 
 Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a heroin mill bust in the Bronx, New York , after the agency seized $8 million worth of the drug. 
 
 The DEA has warned that people who are addicted to opioid prescription pills are now finding highly pure heroin easier and cheaper to obtain. 
 
 It produces a similar, if more dangerous, high because unlike with the pills, there is no way to regulate the dosage of heroin, given the undetermined purity. ||||| Deadly 
 
 Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead with a needle in his arm and envelopes of heroin stamped with an Ace of Spades logo. This isn’t the first time the brand has been in the news. 
 
 At approximately 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in the bathroom of his Greenwich Village apartment. He lay on his side in a t-shirt and shorts with a hypodermic needle in his left arm. According to police, five empty heroin envelopes were in the trash, and two full ones were found near his person. Some of the envelopes were branded with an Ace of Spaces logo, others with an Ace of Hearts. Whoever sold Hoffman this brand of narcotic aided in his untimely death. 
 
 
 
 He left behind his longtime partner and creative collaborator, Mimi O'Donnell, and their three young children. 
 
 Heroin, in general, has seen a major surge in the New York City-Long Island areas in recent years. On March 24, 2009, the New York field division of the Drug Enforcement Agency arrested 13 men in Long Island in a heroin-trafficking operation that moved large quantities of the drug from Elmhurst, Queens, to western Suffolk. The “ringleaders” were Gilberto “Macho” Rivera, 25, of Oakdale, and Felix Cruz, 29, of Brooklyn. 
 
 “Inside their car, detectives recovered $25,000 in cash and 5,000 packets of heroin packaged for street sales,” said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota in a statement. “Just a few hours later, we executed a search warrant at Mr. Cruz’s property in Queens that we suspected of being his heroin distribution center. Inside the apartment at 32-15 112th Street in East Elmhurst, we found 2,000 bags of heroin packaged for individual sale, thousands of glassine envelopes, scales, a grinder used to cut the heroin with lactose, three loaded handguns and an AR-15 assault rifle stored in Mr. Cruz’s guitar case.” He added that they also found “packaging paraphernalia including scales, grinders and stamps these dealers used to label their product with names like Ace of Spades, Underdog, and Stop Snitching.” 
 
 Rivera later pled guilty to a 14-count indictment including murder in the second degree, robbery, drug and weapons possession, and conspiracy to distribute narcotics. 
 
 The Ace of Spades heroin has been spreading across the country, too. On July 7, 2011, 12 people in Wichita, Kansas, were indicted on heroin trafficking charges, including Jermaine Ward, 28, who was accused of establishing a heroin distribution center in Wichita from drugs obtained in New York. The busts came as part of a 13-month investigation dubbed Operation Resection. 
 
 “This investigation targeted a form of powdered heroin that is easily inhaled rather than injected,” U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a statement. “This type of heroin is growing in popularity in urban and suburban areas across the country. As a result, the number of overdoses caused by heroin is growing nationally, too.” 
 
 An investigator’s affidavit in Ward’s arrest described a series of undercover purchases made by investigators, the last of which came on Oct. 5, 2010, when investigators “reported paying $2,000 for 98 bags of heroin. The bags were stamped with the word ‘Ace’ in the shape of an ace of spades.” 
 
 It seems that most of the heroin is hailing from Brooklyn and Queens. In Jan. 2012, after a yearlong probe, eight members of a drug ring were arrested for selling high-quality South American heroin at various hotels, diners, and electronic stores in Brooklyn and Queens. Users would cop the heroin from pushers in Brooklyn and Queens and then transport it to eastern Long Island, resulting in the arrests of 120 suspects, 90 of which hailed from Suffolk County. According to the New York Daily News, the heroin could be purchased from the Brooklyn and Queens pushers at an extreme discount—$400 for 100 packets, or around a third of the street price. More than 8,000 packets of heroin were eventually seized, and prosecutors came to dubbing the Long Island Expressway “heroin highway.” 
 
 Bad batches of heroin are spreading across the country as well. A lethal combination of heroin and the opiate fentanyl, a drug used to soothe pain in cancer patients, has been responsible for close to 100 deaths from New Hampshire to Washington State, including 37 in Maryland since September, and two dozen in Pennsylvania. The heroin has been labeled “bud ice,” “income tax,” and “Theraflu,” according to authorities, and just last month, was said to be responsible for 5 deaths in the Nassau County area, thus spreading to New York. 
 
 The Ace of Spades heroin popped up again recently on Jan. 16 when authorities arrested Kendall Sistrunk, 49, with transporting heroin from New York to Stamford, Connecticut, for sale. Sistrunk would take the train to New York every day, purchase heroin at discount, and hide it in his buttocks on the ride back, where he’d sell it on the streets of Stamford at double the cost.
– We're still waiting for the results of Philip Seymour Hoffman's autopsy, which will be completed later today, but a search of his home makes the prevailing heroin overdose theory look seriously likely. Authorities found nearly 50 envelopes of what they think is heroin in the apartment, along with more than 20 used syringes in a plastic cup, and several bottles of prescription drugs, law enforcement sources tell CNN. There were also eight empty bags marked with the street names for various heroin varieties, including "Ace of Spades" and "Ace of Hearts." The NYPD is using those names to hunt for Hoffman's dealer, adds the New York Post, "An internal email went out to all supervisors asking if anyone has had any experience with those brand names of drugs," says a source. Ace of Spades is particularly notorious, the Daily Beast points out, explaining its long history. There have also been a bevy of recent media reports about a deadly tainted heroin variety containing fentanyl, usually sold as "Bud Ice," "Income Tax," or "Theraflu," leadng to speculation that Hoffman might have used it.