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Michael Jackson's father suspects foul play over death
Robert Mendick and David Gardner, in Los Angeles30 Jun 2009
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Michael Jackson's father said today he suspected foul play over his son's death.
Joe Jackson said he could not understand why the star died suddenly, having appeared fit and well hours before. The mystery over the singer's final hours deepened with fresh revelations:
Alleged details of an autopsy suggested Jackson was “a virtual skeleton”. There was no food in his stomach, only partly dissolved pills, and he weighed just eight stone. He was almost bald and his body was riddled with needle wounds from pain-killing injections.
Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray denied injecting the singer with the painkiller Demerol and said he was innocent of causing the death.
It was revealed Jackson's 12-year-old son Michael Joseph, known as Prince, watched the struggle to save his father but thought the 50-year-old was playing a practical joke.
His funeral could be as early as Wednesday with plans being made for a huge public ceremony.
The intervention by Joe Jackson increases pressure on authorities to produce definitive results from the two post-mortem examinations. He said: “Michael was dead before he left the house. I'm suspecting foul play somewhere. He was waving to everybody and telling them he loves them and all, the fans at the gate. A few minutes after Michael was out there, he was dead.”
In another interview at the Black Entertainment Awards, where stars paid tribute to his son, Joe, 80, said: “I have a lot of concerns. I don't like what happened.”
He refused to elaborate but the family, which met to discuss funeral arrangements, is reportedly pushing the police to mount a criminal investigation to answer nagging questions that surround last Thursday's tragedy. They ordered a second autopsy on Jackson's body over the weekend in the hope that it might provide more answers.
Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, went on television to defend his client. Police interviewed Dr Murray on Saturday and said he was not a suspect.
The doctor told police he did not inject Jackson with a shot of Demerol less than an hour before the singer collapsed with a heart attack. He maintained that Jackson was still alive when he first found him, slumped in his bed unable to breathe.
Mr Chernoff said Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when Dr Murray tried desperately to revive him. He said Dr Murray administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, putting one hand behind Jackson's back and compressing with the other hand.
Dr Murray eventually moved Jackson on to the floor to continue giving him CPR. “Keep in mind that Michael Jackson is a very frail individual and the doctor knew this and he was compressing hard enough that the doctor knew he was pumping the blood throughout the system,” he said.
He denied that Dr Murray had ever prescribed or administered Demerol to Jackson. “Not ever, not that day. Not Oxycontin either, for that matter,” added Mr Chernoff.
“Michael Jackson had specific medical problems that Dr Murray as his private physician inherited. As a result of the tour he was doing in Europe, he [Jackson] was under a lot of stress.”
Mr Chernoff said that Murray attempted to dial 911 on his mobile phone, but he did not know the exact address of Jackson's home.
He said that none of the phones in the home was working “for privacy reasons”. So Murray ran around the house until he found Jackson's chef, who alerted security. It was the security person, Chernoff said, who called 911.
Reported results of the post-mortem examination on Jackson stated that he was “severely emaciated”, weighing eight stone one ounce, far below his ideal body weight.
There was evidence of four adrenaline injections to his heart and several broken ribs from CPR. He was virtually bald and wearing a wig, while his face was heavily scarred from plastic surgery: the bridge to his nose had vanished and the right side had caved in.
According to a family friend, the entire drama was witnessed by Prince Michael, who thought at first that his father was “clowning around”. The boy watched the nightmare scene unfold “in a trance”, said Jackson biographer Stacy Brown. Jackson regularly “played dead” to his children.
The funeral could come as early as Wednesday, with up to a million fans expected to head to Los Angeles. He may be buried at Neverland.
Reader views (33)
we cannot excactly say what really happened between michael and joe.what i can say is michael did many goodworks proof of these are his 197 major awards and more to come.joe also in some way helped him to achieve his popularity bec for instructing michael he was able to become a great performer.michael is a loving person looking also for areal love partner.as once michael said dont try to judge him but try hard to love him.his charity works.love for the fans god and family made michael jackson as the greatest performer on earth.
- Rizah Gale, tarlac philippines, 10/08/2009 02:25
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Let's remember Michael's son watched and the doctor was trying to revive him. This little boy stood there and watched as his father's life ebbed away. It says "...he watched in a trance". Please remember the children. Goodness only knows what this will do to them.
- Lorraine, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Ironic that Joe Jackson should start caring for his son after his death, had he done that beforehand then he might not be dead.
- Bob, Cheam, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Michael could NEVER have hurt a child... the truth will come out when the alleged victims decide to tell the truth free from their parent's opportunistic influence. LOVE YOU MICHAEL...MY HEART IS BROKEN!
- Patsy B., Denver, PA, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Alex dont twist the truth. If he had done so he would still be here. End of story.
- Kellie, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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What was Michael Jackson's father doing at a television awards show so shortly after his son's death?? His family speak of their "devastation" at his death - but where was his family in all this?? could they do nothing to help Michael Jackson or to protect him from all the parasites and handlers who surrounded him? His father says that Michael Jackson will now be "greater in death than in life"....he is simply continuing to promote and exploit his son for his own selfish interests....Michael Jackson's family were no better than any of the other questionable individuals who lived off of him and in whose interest it was to let this terrible situation continue....
- Abf, London, UK, 10/08/2009 01:25
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"He was waving to everybody and telling them he loves them and all, the fans at the gate. A few minutes after Michael was out there, he was dead.” - Unfortuneately heart attacks and strokes are often like that, and can strike at any age. Being pre-deceased by a child hits people hard and some never recover. Joe's other children have to support him at this difficult time as nothing will bring Michael back.
- Man U Fan, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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He was painfully thin and addicted to pain killing drugs and probably stressed out because of his gigs coming up in London. He had a heart attack and died, it happens to lots of people every day around the world, end of! Nothing to do with his doctor, his father, or anyone. He was 50, not 15, and in poor health, probably not helped by the horrendous amount of plastic surgery he'd had over the years. He was an absolutely brilliant performer, but no-one can say the guy didn't have psychiatric problems.
- Sue, Orpington , Kent, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Lets get over this he was a talented man but all this hype is stupid he was only a pop star not a god
- Terry Chambers, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Father in name only. He beat Michael from the age of 4. All of the other brothers and sisters witnessed it but have done nothing. The whole family are tarnished because of the so called "Father". He should hang his head in shame.
- Julie, London
micheal was 4 so the brothers were still children as well julie, so what exactly were they supposed to do about it? Think before you make stupid statements...............
- Kh, London UK, 10/08/2009 01:25
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If just one of the family had loved him enough to stand up in public and bring this horrifying charade to an end Michael might be alive today - It's called tough love and it is what he needed.
They are just as guilty as the leeches round Michael.
Yes he was a troubled soul with a twisted view of himself, but, the real tragedy is that he could have changed huge numbers of lives with his wealth and power and inspiration from someone who loved him enough.
- Pip, Southampton, UK, 10/08/2009 01:25
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I can't believe his father who only is using this to earn more money from his dead son.
Even at the music awards in LA at the weekend he actually said 'he's bigger than ever now, I wish he could see this' The man who robbed his childhood and woke him up at 3am to perform in strip clubs, he's the one who should be locked up for abusive parenting. He ruined his childhood for greed and there should be laws to Stop parents doing this.
M.J. never named any of Neverlands after his father, but he did after his mother. Cretan.
- Jessica, london, 10/08/2009 01:25
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I'm no advocate of corporal punishment, but too much is being made of Joe beating Michael as a child. This is far from uncommon, especially for that era and and in the black community (where beating your children was almost an accepted method of disciplining them). Speaking as the son of a black father, I regularly got beaten for all manner of things. I and thousands of others didn't turn out like Michael. If anything, you should question whether Michael and the rest of the family would have acheived as much as they did, without Joe pushing and punishing as he did. Michael's problems were down to media exposure, expectation and exploitation, Pure and Simple.
- Wez, london, 10/08/2009 01:25
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WELL MR JACKSON IF YOU THINK THAT POOR SOUL LOOKED FIT AND HEALTHY THEN I WOULD SUGGEST YOU GO TALK TO A PROPER DOCTOR TO,HE WAS EMACIATED BALD COVERED IN SCAR TISSUE THE POOR GUY NEEDED LOOKED AFTER AND I PERSONALLY THINK A TRIP TO A PSYCHIATRIST WOULD HAVE HELPED MICHEAL COME TO TERMS WITH FAME MONEY AND ALL THOSE HANGERS ON AND HELPED HIM WITH HIS BODY IMAGE THE MAN NEEDED EXPERT HELP AND NO ONE WAS THERE FOR HIM
- Jim, london, 10/08/2009 01:25
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How do you know they only cared after he died?
Does your father tell you what to do? MJ could and did what he liked, so do many of us and we are not mega rich as he was.
And simply because you beat your son don't mean you don't care about him, even though that was over 40 years ago. And by the way his dad's ridged regime the Jackson 5 may not have got where they did.
Don't judge Joe Jackson if you dont know for a fact that he didn't care.
- Alex, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Can we please move this story off the front page of the 'serious news' section and get back to reporting on the financial, ethical, and legal abuses of gvt, the MPs, and their ilk?
Worrying about Jackson will do nothing to restore good government to the country, will do nothing to prevent the further fall and decline of the Empire.
- Trunk, US, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Joe Jackson shows no sign of mourning as any real parent would at the loss of a son. He's seems more interested in cashing in from his son's death by using an event to honor and memorialize his son as an "opportunity" to promote himself and his new record label. He disgusts me!
- Gapa83, NY, NY, 10/08/2009 01:25
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If Michael Jackson was as thin and as pain-ridden as we are being told he was, who was that standing in front of the press and fans at the 02 in March. He walked into that press conference with a spring in his step, not as if he was a frail and in a lot of pain, his face and neck were that of a 20 year old, they were the only bits we could see. I doubt we will ever know the truth about this troubled and talented man except that his music will indeed live on forever.
- Pamela Mckay, Dagenham Essex, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Nothing to do with the double indemnity clause in life insurance policies which pays out twice if foul play is proven then....very sad...
- Amoreno, luxembourg, 10/08/2009 01:25
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So Joe can’t understand why Michael died suddenly... bearing in mind...."Jackson was “a virtual skeleton”. There was no food in his stomach, only partly dissolved pills, and he weighed just eight stone. He was almost totally bald and his body was riddled with needle wounds from regular pain-killing injections... this doesn’t sound that sudden to me...
- Ade, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Joe Jackson suspects foul play, is he blind? His son was anorexic and taking pain killers to which he was addicted. Where is the common sense you cannot survive without food, the body needs fuel. Did he not see that his son has no hair and his body emaciated. Why pass the blame to an innocent witness? He should have made sure that his son ate and helped him get off of pain killers. He did not do enough and should be ashamed of himself.
- Anikar, Norfolk, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Notwithstanding his 'father'. I hope the father of the kid who made the first abuse claim can live with himself. I never believed the story, even the boy's mother said nothing had happened. And seriously if someone molested your child would you take a pay-off? No you'd want them in jail and on a sex offenders list. They knew MJ was easy prey and they went for it. Disgusting.
- D, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Well the vultures are all lining up for the pickings. Considering Joe Jackson had little or no contact with his son how come all of the 'devastation' now. Yeah, this is going to be a long drawn out yawn with max Clifford jumping on the wagon eventually
- Trevn, Abu Dhabi, 10/08/2009 01:25
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I agree with the other comments. Joe Jackson probably would not care too much if MJ was dead or alive. As long as there was promotional opportunity in it.
- Jc, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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That's funny Mr Jackson, the rest of us suspect foul-play over his life.
- Fresh, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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maybe if Joe Jackson had been a better father, Michael might still be alive today. I certainly suspect Joe Jackson of foul play throughout Michael's life. If he loved him so much, he'd have noticed his son was frail and desperately in need of help.
- Jb Sussex, hove sussex uk, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Abf - micheal was a grown man with a family of his own- not the boy of 10 we all remember so fondly. so the idea of him being 'protected' by his family against issues, is ludicrous - the rumour is that micheal was actually addicted to the painkillers and any parent or person near to someone who has an addiction its hard to see your loved one in that predicamdent and sometimes people are powerless to help. Micheal actually came from a close knit familiy - look how the family rallied to his defence when he was accussed of abuse? its easy to blame joe but micheal forgave him and moved on so why can't all you commentators?
michael R.I P - there will never be anyone like you
x
- Kh, London UK, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Joe Jackson - you should be ashamed of yourself whilst your son will rest in peace (his physical and mental conditon is a result of all your abuse) you will never rest in peace
- God, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Father in name only. He beat Michael from the age of 4. All of the other brothers and sisters witnessed it but have done nothing. The whole family are tarnished because of the so called "Father". He should hang his head in shame.
- Julie, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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There was a report in the paper that he'd been drinking vast amounts of grapefruit juice but hadn't told his doctor. If true, this provides a very plausible explanation. Drug - grapefruit interactions are numerous and can be lethal. If the fine print on your medication says to avoid eating grapefruit, take it seriously!
- Nigel, London, 10/08/2009 01:25
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I heard that Michael couldn't return to Neverland as it brought him unhappy memories. If that is true, perhaps he should not be buried there. Friends and family perhaps could think of another place.
Michael Jackson fans asking for ticket refunds to the London concerts is being discussed here in the U.K. How many of these were in actual fact people who had brought tickets to sell for vast amounts of financial profits and how many had actually brought tickets for the purpose of attending the concerts. It seems to me that Michael was exploited all his life, and continues to be so.
- Miryam, England, uk, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Joe Jackson is simply trying to reclaim the spotlight, to profit once again, from his son.
The man is dead, the gravy train has stopped running. Get this story off the front page, there are far more important things happening the world.
Focus people, focus.
- Trunk, US, 10/08/2009 01:25
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Whilst I agree with Wez, it's clear Michael lacked self-esteem and was dreadfully unhappy, and I wonder if his father's constant belittling fed Michael's obsession with plastic surgery. Michael and his brothers were treated no better than performing seals. I just hope those fame-hungry parents out there have a long, hard look at the sad life of this talented man before they shove their child in the limelight.
- Sonia M., St Albans, Herts, 10/08/2009 01:25
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