Marilyn Monroe, an always mysterious death
Fifty years later, several theories remain on the circumstances of the disappearance of the American icon.
On the night of August 4 to 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe disappeared from her home in Brentwood (Los Angeles). She was only 36 years old. She was discovered inanimate, naked in bed, hand on her phone, by her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson, called by the actress' housekeeper, Eunice Murray. The forensic pathologist then concluded that there was barbiturate poisoning and a "probable suicide". But from this time, emerges the thesis of a plot to assassinate the star.
Several strange details raise questions: the very large quantity of Nembutal pills ingested (which would be enough to kill ten people); Marilyn's conversation with her friend Peter Lawford, a few hours before her death, who had found her bizarre; the four hour time lapse before the psychiatrist, housekeeper and doctor call the police (before they change versions to reduce this time to around 30 minutes); the fact that the housekeeper cleaned the actress' room before the police arrived; the disappearance of Marilyn's telephone record that night; the lack of analysis of the star's organs after his death
Suicide? Accidental death? Assassination? The scenarios evoked and the presumed culprits (FBI, Robert Kennedy, Mafia, Ralph Greenson…) which are numerous, have caused much ink to flow, but no theory has ever been proven. Return on the tracks envisaged to explain the poisoning of a sulphurous legend.
• Suicide
Absorption of an overdose of Nembutal pills with a view to killing oneself. This is the official version that will be given of Marilyn's death. However, the file will never be closed. History will remember a "probable suicide". Apart from the suspicious factors mentioned above, the detractors of this hypothesis argue that the actress did not want to die at that time.
• Accidental death
Another hypothesis is that this overdose of Nembutal pills was not intentional. Marilyn could have accidentally swallowed too much.
Or, another theory which seems to prevail now - that of Donald Spoto, the author of Marilyn Monroe: the biography -: an accidental death caused by a medical error of Greenson and Murray. The latter allegedly administered an enema with chloral hydrate (to sleep), unaware that she had previously absorbed Nembutal. However, the mixture of these two substances can prove to be fatal. Don Wolfe also speaks, in Investigating a Murder, of an intracardiac injection of adrenaline from Greenson that allegedly failed. Treatment gone wrong? Unless it wasn't an accident?
• The assassination
The forensic doctor found no trace of pill or powder in Marilyn's body. She would not therefore have swallowed the Nembutal herself. Suspicion reinforced by the absence of glass next to his bed (while several empty boxes of barbiturates were there). So Nembutal would have been injected into him?
Several theories maintain that this death is nothing other than a homicide disguised as an accident or suicide. Among the sponsors, we cite the FBI or the CIA, who would have wanted to silence the actress, following her relationship with John F. Kennedy, so that she does not make a revelation on the family of the American president and the White House. The young woman was also wiretapped and the disappearance of her telephone records would perhaps not be accidental.
Others also accuse the mafia, and more precisely Sam Giancana, with whom Marilyn had spent the evening, a short time before, at the Cal Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe.
According to Dom Wolfe, the sponsor of the homicide was none other than Robert Kennedy himself, who was even present during the fatal injection administered to the actress.
So many questions raised which remain unanswered and participate in the strengthening of a myth.
