14 DAY TRIAL // Actress Brittany Murphy died in 2009 from what the Coroner’s Office ruled as “natural causes” prompted by pneumonia, anemia and over-the-counter self-medication. Her husband Simon Monjack died within 5 months from the same causes, and Murphy’s father is now arguing that they were both poisoned.
Shortly after the double tragedy, the actress’ mother, who lived with the couple at the time, told the press that she believed their deaths had been triggered by mold found in the house, which aggravated their underlining issues and eventually played a part in their untimely demise.
Angelo Bertolotti, Murphy’s father is now arguing that the two were actually murdered by poisoning, saying that the only reason no one thought of this until now was because the Coroner’s Office didn’t even bother to test for poison.
After a lawsuit that was dropped last year, Bertolotti got a hold of his daughter’s tissue samples from the Coroner’s and had them tested independently by the Carlson Company in Colorado, The Examiner reports.
The tests came back to confirm his theory, as poisonous substances were found in alarming quantities in his daughter’s body.
“Ten (10) of the heavy metals evaluated were detected at levels higher that the WHO [The World Health Organization] high levels… 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,” the report from the Carlson Company reads.
“Symptoms of acute heavy metal poisoning in humans can include headache, dizziness, gastrointestinal, neurological, respiratory, or dermal symptoms such as abdominal cramps, tremors, tachycardia, sweating, disorientation, coughing, wheezing, congestion, and pneumonia,” the report goes on to note.
All these symptoms were experienced by both Brittany and Simon before their death, which her mother has also confirmed.
Bertolotti sees this as a means to vindicate his daughter, of whom many assumed she’d died of an OD when news of the tragedy spared, because she had been linked to severe drug use in the past.
“Vicious rumors, spread by tabloids, unfairly smeared Brittany’s reputation. My daughter was neither anorexic nor a drug junkie, as they repeatedly implied. Brittany and Simon were ridiculed by The Hollywood Reporter, when they complained of being under surveillance and in fear for their lives. I will not rest until the truth about these tragic events is told. There will be justice for Brittany,” he says.