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“You do not need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary.”

― Franz Kafka, The Trial



Shawn Helton

21st Century Wire

What happened to Brittany Murphy?

To this day, events surrounding the strange and untimely death of Brittany Murphy have remained an enigma. We’ve been told she died of ‘natural causes’ though there were many anomalies in the case of her death.

There are several people involved in this mystery and after looking at the evidence you can decide for yourself what really happened to her.

This is the strange death of Brittany Murphy revisited and the circumstances which led up to her final days…





Brittany Murphy was at one time a Hollywood darling and is perhaps best known for her role in the 90’s cult-film Clueless, a film partially based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma, she also had notable performances in the dark psychological drama, Girl Interrupted as well as Sin City, the graphic-crime-comic that came to life in a neo-noir style film in 2005. Over the years Murphy was seen as a bit of a chameleon, wildly changing her looks whether she was behind the camera or not and despite her sugary persona, her life on-screen seemed to capture a more serious note showcased in recent films like The Dead Girl and the as of yet unreleased thriller Something Wicked, her final role. Ironically, the film’s plot involves the suspicious death of a loved one.

Brittany was born in at Atlanta, Georgia and after her parents separation at two years of age, she moved to New Jersey with her mother.

From an early age the young Brittany Anne Bertolotti (her birth given name) appeared to have her sights set on the Hollywood dream, attending the Verne Fowler School of Dance and Theatre Arts in Colonia, New Jersey, in 1982.

In 1991 she was said to have relocated to Los Angeles at 13 years old, specifically to pursue a future in acting. After a short time she quickly rose to fame in the acting world, also becoming known for her voice work as well as her singing, even managing to garner a hit-club single called ‘Faster Kill Pussycat’ with trance DJ Paul Oakenfold.

To live and die in L.A

The well-known Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on the morning of Sunday, December 20th, 2009 from cardiac arrest. Her failing body was discovered by her mother Sharon Murphy, apparently after collapsing in the shower of her Hollywood Hills home, a home she shared with her husband Simon Monjack, as well as her mother.





IMAGE: These are apparent aerial and interior photos of Brittany Murphy’s Mediterranean-style home built in 1998. It has been reported that she bought the house for $3.85 million from Britney Spears in 2003.



IMAGE: Murphy’s Hollywood Hills home – Police arrive at the scene after an 8 minute 911 call by her mother Sharon on December 20th, 2009 – a call that the L.A. County Coroner claimed was ’10 minutes too late.’



IMAGE: Brighter Days: Brittany seen here with her mother Sharon Murphy.



IMAGE: Murphy with her husband, British Screenwriter and filmmaker Simon Monjack.

An autopsy turns cold

Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter concluded Murphy died of ‘natural causes’ citing, pneumonia, iron deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication as the main causes of death. According to Brittany’s father, Angelo Bertolotti, her case was ‘opened and closed on the same day’ without the conclusion of toxicology results from hair and tissue samples.

Bertolotti has maintained that the LAPD and L.A. coroner have refused to complete the toxicology portion of Brittany Murphy’s autopsy, prompting him to file a suit against both entities in 2012 to obtain samples to be independently tested. Shamelessly, other more salacious outlets have implied that he was suing for some kind of monetary gain or publicity. There seems to be no validity to this claim however, and he has apparently been funding his own private investigation into her death.

The purported autopsy of Murphy does in fact appear to be incomplete, as an examination of her nails was apparently not performed. Evidence collection for hair samples were also said to have been completed on December 21st, 2009. However, the results of the toxicology tests are not listed in the final autopsy by the L.A. County coroner even after being reviewed in January of 2010.

Murphy’s autopsy report listed her as dying specifically of – community acquired pneumonia. While pneumonia is listed as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, its effects can be mimicked by toxic metals, in addition to toxic gases, so it should be stated that it can often be misdiagnosed as the main cause of death.

It’s important to note that the autopsy report mentions Murphy as having hypoglycemia, a condition indicative of a drop in glucose within the bloodstream which has been known to cause anxiety, nausea, seizures and in severe cases, a coma. However, this was not listed as the cause of her death. The report lists a section called ‘current medications,’ naming off prescriptions to reduce anxiety, antibiotics, cold medicine, a glucose elevator, sedatives, anti-seizure medication and high-blood pressure pills. Aside from the high-blood pressure medication, most of what was listed could fit Murphy’s health profile ( note Murphy had just been to the doctor for a recent bout with laryngitis ) and someone with hypoglycemic history. Simon Monjack also needed anti-seizure medication as he had been suffering from grand mal seizures due to a fall he had while working on a photography session some two and a half years before his death.

According to reports, it seems that Murphy’s prescriptions have been lumped in with those of Simon’s and Sharon’s, creating a confusing atmosphere as to whether the star herself abused drugs or was tasked as the caretaker for her ailing husband and mother, both of whom seemed to be grappling with their prescription issues.

Murphy is alleged to have used different aliases to purchase certain prescriptions at Eddie’s Pharmacy for herself , Monjack and her mother Sharon.





IMAGE: Eddie’s Pharmacy – prescriptions abound for Hollywood’s brightest

Eddie’s is a trendy drug haven for the celebrated and is said to be a reputable operation but why would they allow any of their clients to purchase prescription drugs under different names, it seems unlikely that they wouldn’t have recognized such a well-known celebrity, especially one that apparently purchased 200-400 pills per month?

There have been reports from other Hollywood news outlets that seemed to place the blame on Dr. Richard J. Kroop, who allegedly had a violation of keeping up to date medical records for patients, while still prescribing medicine. However, other than the usual gossip columns that strangle Hollywood reports, I haven’t been able to find any other stories confirming Dr. Kroop’s involvement with Brittany.

Was Eddie’s deflecting some of the blame here, conveniently shifting public opinion towards an allegedly unscrupulous doctor?



“The family trio purchased prescription drugs monthly from Eddie’s, usually 200 pills that in some months doubled to 400. Murphy used several aliases including Lola Manilow Murphy, Kathelyn Moore, Trevor Williams, and Faith Gosselin. How did Murphy choose her aliases? Check it out at the end of this article.”

It should be stated that the autopsy unequivocally asserts that Brittany had no history of drug and alcohol abuse.

I cannot verify the validity or authenticity of the autopsy screen shots below but if they are real – they could provide a potential window into the forensic side of Murphy’s case.

Please note this is not her entire autopsy below, I merely highlighted a few key areas in the nearly 20 page report.







The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner issued another report in February of 2010 claiming that Brittany had been taking a range of over-the-counter drugs and other prescription medications but when listening to the 911 call by her mother Sharon, she clearly says “no” when asked if her daughter had been taking any medication. This is an important statement even if Sharon was unable to think clearly, as she repeats her answer a couple of times.

Listen to the traumatic 911 call of Sharon Murphy, while Simon Monjack attempts to resuscitate the 32 year-old actress in the background.

Reports state that Murphy’s husband Simon had initially tried to stop the autopsy performed by L.A. County. Simon would later die of the exact same causes as his wife some five months later. According to his apparent autopsy he had suffered a mild heart attack a month prior to Brittany’s death. It is also stated that Sharon Murphy waited at least 45 minutes to call 911 while Simon was unresponsive and his “lungs filled up with fluid,” for approximately seven hours. The coroner’s report noted, he could have been dead for hours.

Why did Sharon delay in getting help?

Shockingly, there was also a disturbing part that was redacted in Monjack’s autopsy report suggesting that Sharon had been sleeping in his bed prior to his death.

According to L.A coroner’s on the scene, they had been combing through Monjack’s bedroom and belongings and stated the following:

“As I go through (The name was whited out) tells me that this is “her” side of the bed and all the prescription and items on top the nightstand belong to her.”

Sharon Murphy was the only other person living at the Hollywood residence and the only family member to be on the scene with the coroner at the time of Simon Monjack’s death.

What kind of relationship did Sharon and Simon have?





IMAGE: Celebrity Death Spokesman: Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter (Image: CBS News)



The L.A. County Department of Coroner has been refered to by some as an ‘old haunted house’ as its seen a host of bizarre and tragic deaths for decades, including many Hollywood cases. In recent years, the L.A. corner’s office has conducted many high-profile autopsies including that of pop icon Michael Jackson, actor Corey Haim, Brittany Murphy, as well as investigative journalist Michael Hastings and actor Paul Walker. While many have been suspicious of both the death of Haim and Jackson for potential information they may have known about the entertainment business and Hollywood, there was also a strong motive to silence Hastings, as he was said to be working night and day on another groundbreaking story involving apparent government corruption. It has been said that he had reached out to Wikileaks attorney Jennifer Robinson, just hours before his death.

The L.A. County coroner’s office also came under fire after an ‘open and shut,’ autopsy that was performed on conservative publisher and commentator Andrew Breitbart, who was just 43 at the time of his death. It was stated he died of natural causes, then listing heart failure as the final cause in the updated autopsy report. He was a regular on Fox News as well as other talk shows and was apparently about to blow the lid off of Obama’s presidential run in 2012 with damning new evidence that was to derail the campaign. Allegedly, the autopsy was conducted by Michael Cormier, 61, an L.A. County Coroner, who was said to have died of arsenic poisoning a month and three weeks later after Breitbart’s suspicious death. Cormier subsequently died upon the release of the final version of Breitbart’s autopsy.

Mainstream media outlets have been eerily silent since Breitbart’s sudden death. We should remember that a coroner certifies the death of an individual working as a government official. The public is very aware of the government’s hold on media and other government agencies.

Did someone much higher up influence the coroner’s final report?

Ed Winter has stated that “Mr. Cormier was not the attendant on Mr. Breitbart’s case, nor did he do any of the handling nor any of the investigation,” conflicting reports that Cormier had performed the autopsy.





IMAGE: The Early Years: Brittany and her father Angelo Bertolotti

The fear of the truth

Many entertainment media outlets have sought to defame Murphy’s father Angelo Bertolotti, using his former connections to organized crime as a way to discredit him but decades have passed since he served time in a federal penitentiary and was said to be a part of a criminal enterprise. While he has a checkered past, we should look at his investigation of Brittany’s death objectively.

Bertolotti recently addressed the slander he has received at the hand of those in media:

“I’ve ( Angelo Bertolotti )been attacked and slandered for my attempts to expose the truth about the way my daughter and son-in-law were treated before and after their deaths. Justice will no longer be obstructed through name-calling and media cover-up. The day of accountability is near. The world will know the truth about what really happened to Brittany, whatever it takes.”

What father wouldn’t want to know the truth about the death of their daughter?

Bertolotti has often asserted his quest for justice over his daughter’s peculiar death:

“Years after my daughter’s untimely death, toxicology testing on her hair still has not been completed. Office of the Los Angeles Coroner and the Los Angeles Police Department admitted that such tests were not done and refused to conduct them. At this point, I am asking the court to intervene and allow me to get the specimens independently tested. Brittany’s hair and tissues were about to be destroyed, but I’ve paid to have them preserved, so that they could finally be examined. I’m not going to rest until my daughter’s untimely demise is properly investigated, which hasn’t happened so far. Her case deserves more than a superficial glance.”

Since then Bertolotti has had two independent tests (that’s right, two separate tests concluding that Murphy could have died by criminal intent) conducted, both have revealed that there was as much as 9 times the reasonable levels of harsh metals and toxins in Murphy’s body, strongly suggesting that she could have been poisoned, here is an excerpt from the Carlson Company report:

“we have detected ten (10) heavy metals at levels above the WHO high levels recommendation. If we were to eliminate the possibility of a simultaneous accidental heavy metals exposure to the sample donor then the only logical explanation would be an exposure to these metals (toxins) administered by a third party perpetrator with likely criminal intent.”

According to Los Angeles Attorney Mychal Wilson, “The Los Angeles County Coroners Office will most likely have to re-test on their own. Apparently, the LA County Coroner’s Office never tested for heavy metal poisoning.”

Here is a recent introduction to The Carlson Company seen on YouTube





Will this private investigation serve to reopen the case?

If Brittany was poisoned, what would be the motive?



Be sure to read Part Two of The Strange Death Of Brittany Murphy Revisited this coming week on 21Wire, as we explore a possible motive to kill the star, the Julia Davis connection, Sharon Murphy’s bizarre and erratic behaviour, as well as the alleged toxic mold queries involving Brittany’s Hollywood Hills home…

SEE ALSO: Buried Evidence: The Strange Death Of Brittany Murphy Revisited – Part Two

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