The day Michael Jackson died: 10 years later, unedited photos of the room revealed
The images are part of "Killing Michael Jackson", a documentary that traces the death of the singer and which stars the detectives who investigated the case
It was June 25, 2009: the body of Michael Jackson, the "King of pop", was found lifeless by the doctor who took care of it. The singer went away in silence, leaving behind a trail of mysteries and anecdotes never clarified. But above all, he left giving a musical legacy that continues to make people sing, dance and dream at every latitude.
The room upside down
Ten years ago, the bedroom in the North Carolwood Drive house in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, was in shambles. In the documentary Killing Michael Jackson, expected in Italy and released in the United Kingdom on June 22 this year, unpublished images of the death scene are shown for the first time. Syringes, huge quantities of drugs, a creepy baby doll and written sentences everywhere.
"There were post-its and pieces of paper zealously glued all over the room - says detective Orlando Martinez who was among the first to investigate Jackson's death - including doors and mirrors. I don't know if those sentences were letters or thoughts, some seemed like poems. But I remember that the entire sleeping area of that house was a disaster ".
"Killing Michael Jackson"
The documentary collects the testimonies of the three Los Angeles detectives who immediately followed the singer's death and were among the first to enter the bedroom where he was found dead. Orlando Martinez, Dan Myers and Scott Smith. "On the bed there was a computer, a doll and photos of children - says Martinez in the documentary - certainly not a suitable room for any person who must receive medical treatment".
And he adds: «We found many medicines already open, such as Propofol. There was all sorts of garbage around: needles, empty bottles, it was truly incredible. " After the autopsy carried out on the body, the toxicological results indicated that the cause of Michael Jackson's death was due to acute intoxication with Propofol, a powerful general anesthetic, taken in large quantities and together with some benzodiazepines.
The death
Michale Jackson returned home at midnight on June 24 after rehearsing Thriller and Earth Song in the studio ahead of the summer concerts. The doctor who had been following him for six weeks, Conrad Murray, was at home with him. He said that he gave him several benzodiazepines several times because the singer was unable to fall asleep. So, at 10:40 am on June 25, 2009, Murray put the oxygen mask on Jackson and injected him with the powerful anesthetic Propofol.
After a few minutes, the doctor returned to the room and realized that, despite the singer wearing the oxygen mask, breathing had stopped. In a panic, the doctor tried a heart massage, but it proved useless because it was applied to a soft surface such as a bed. Only an hour and a half later, at 12:21 pm, Murray decided to call an ambulance. But there was nothing more to be done: the "King of Pop", at the age of 50, had died intoxicated by drugs.
The sentence
The death was classified as manslaughter. California judge Michael E. Pastor who led the trial described Dr. Murray's practices as "medical insanity." Or again, "medical experiments that cannot be tolerated". For this the doctor was found guilty and the judge imposed the maximum possible sentence for the crime of involuntary homicide: four years in prison in the state of California.
"Murray not only did not take any responsibility for Jackson's death, he never showed any repentance for a practice that is at least questionable, but rather he went so far as to accuse the singer himself of being responsible for his own death", he reiterated in the reasons of the sentence the judge.
