New documentary reignites interest in actress Brittany Murphy's mysterious death
Late actress Brittany Murphy. TNS.
Brittany Murphy 's sudden death at the age of 32 is now the subject of a new Investigation Discovery documentary titled "Brittany Murphy: An ID Mystery," which revisits the perplexing case.
The documentary features a forensic pathologist questioning the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death that “were never truly answered.”
The 'Clueless' actresses’death in the year 2009 was officially ruled an accident, caused by pneumonia, anaemia and multiple drug intoxication.
The actress had been found unresponsive in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home by her mother at the time of death.
In the documentary, forensic pathologist Dr Cyril Wecht — who was hired by Murphy’s father Angelo Bertolotti to investigate his daughter’s death — is interviewed.
Speaking to Fox News about the new programme, Wecht said: “(Bertolotti) was very persistent in wanting to find out what happened to his daughter. It had even reached the point we were talking about excavation.
"Unfortunately, he did not have power of attorney and there was no legal way in which he could have accomplished that. There was no kind of criminal investigation and nobody was requesting it.”
On the original investigation, he added: “What stood out to me was that here’s a young woman of 32 years old.
"How could she have developed such an advanced state pneumonia and such an incredible state of iron deficiency? Where in the world was her mother, her husband? Why didn’t she receive proper medical care?
“I was just puzzled by all of it. She had the financial means to see a doctor. And then she had prescriptions to strong opiates. It was very perplexing.”
A lab report commissioned by Bertolotti showed 10 potentially toxic heavy metals were present in a hair strand sample, suggesting Murphy might have been poisoned.
Wecht said it is “impossible” to rule out that Murphy was murdered. He added: “I can only say what I’ve said before — it’s not possible to completely rule out things. But you have to deal with the questions — questions that I feel were never truly answered.”
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Bertolotti’s estranged wife Sharon Murphy wrote a letter to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, refuting his allegations that their daughter was poisoned.
“His claims are based on the most flimsy of evidence and are more of an insult than an insight into what really happened,” she wrote.
Making matters even more mysterious, Murphy’s husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, was also found dead just five months after she was, with pneumonia and anaemia named as the causes of death.
