by David Wayne
Note that Eunice Murray later admits that Marilyn’s bedroom door was not locked that night.129
12:00- 12:30 AM
Peter Lawford contacts private investi-gator Fred Otash, a surveillance expert, and the two arrange to meet shortly at Otash’s office.130
1:00 AM
Peter Lawford is supposedly informed by attorney Mickey Rudin that Marilyn is dead.
This, again, smacks of cover-up. As we can see in the previous post, Lawford was already well aware that Marilyn was dead and was already busy covering tracks.
1:00 AM
A neighbor of Marilyn’s, Abe Landau, arrives home and notices a lot of cars and activity at Marilyn’s house. Landau states that he asked what was happening, and he was told that Marilyn had died.131
1:30 AM
Attorney Milt Ebbins speaks on the phone to Peter Lawford.132
2:00 AM
Peter Lawford meets private investigator Fred Otash at Otash’s office as the two had arranged in the earlier call. Lawford explains that Marilyn is dead, and that Robert Kennedy had been at the house, so there is an urgent need to get over to her home and “sweep” it of all listening devices, as well as making sure that there is nothing in the home linking her to the Kennedys. Otash had apparently wiretapped Marilyn’s house and knew she was under surveillance. Lawford’s wife (Patty Seaton Lawford) also verified that Lawford had gone to see Otash right after Marilyn’s death. Otash verified that the tapes revealed that Robert Kennedy had been at the house that day. Two other witnesses also heard the tape and confirm that.133
3:00 AM
Ebbins calls Peter Lawford to talk to him again but this time there is no answer at Lawford’s home.134
Early AM hours
Surveillance expert Fred Otash, acting on instructions received via Peter Law- ford, arrives at Marilyn’s home and checks and removes the listening devices from it.135
Early AM hours
Men described as “Federal Agents” arrive at the Santa Monica headquarters of the General Telephone Company and, even though it is after hours, demand, receive and seize the telephone records of Marilyn Monroe.136
3:50 AM
Dr. Engleberg, Marilyn’s real doctor (remember that Greenson is simply her psychiatrist) states that he gets a phone call at 3:50 a.m., informing him that Marilyn is dead, so he heads over to the house right before the police are called.137
4:00 AM
Ebbins states that he gets a call from attorney Mickey Rudin who tells him “I’m at Marilyn’s house now and she’s dead.”138
4:00 AM
Pat Newcomb gets a wake-up call from Mickey Rudin, who tells her he is at Marilyn’s house and that Marilyn is dead. Pat throws a jacket over her pajamas and heads over to Marilyn’s house. A bit later, around dawn, she is caught screaming viciously at the reporters who hover just outside Marilyn’s driveway: “Vultures! Are you happy now? ... Vultures”139
4:25 AM
Police are finally called. Dr. Greenson places the call from Marilyn’s home and it is received by Sgt. Clemmons, Night Watch Commander at the West Los Angeles Police Station. (By some accounts, the phone call is placed by Dr. Engleberg. In any event, one of her doctors calls the police, and both doctors are present when Sgt. Clemmons arrives). Sgt Clemmons verifies the death and then heads over to Marilyn’s house personally.140
Shortly after 4:30 AM
Police arrive. Housekeeper Eunice and the two doctors are questioned, and they initially indicate a time of death of around 12:30 a.m. Police note the room is extremely tidy, and that the bed appears to have fresh linen on it. The police note that Murray was washing sheets when they arrived. Police also note that the bedside table has several pill bottles but the room contains no means to wash pills down as there is no glass and, furthermore, that the water is turned off due to remodeling. Later, a glass or other type of drinking vessel is found lying on the floor by the bed, but a police officer who was present states that it was not there previously when the room was thoroughly searched and that a glass was one of the items they were specifically looking for.141
5:40 AM
The undertaker, Guy Hockett, arrives and notes that Marilyn is in an advanced state of rigor mortis, and that the state of rigor mortis indicates a time of death between 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. However, the time is later altered to match the witness statements.142
6:00 AM
Eunice changes her story to police and now says she went back to bed at midnight and only called Dr. Green- son when she awoke at 3:00 a.m. and noticed that the light was still on.
Both doctors also change their stories and now claim Monroe died around 3:50 AM (for the obvious purpose of closing up all the missing hours before police were called). Police note that Eunice Murray appears quite evasive and extremely vague—she would eventually change her story several more times. Despite being a key witness, Murray travels to Europe and is not questioned again. Since there is not a Coroner’s Inquest or any official criminal investigation, the witnesses are not required to testify under oath.143
6:04 AM
Peter Lawford calls President Kennedy (verified by White House phone log). The White House operator patches the call through to Hyannis Port, Massaa- chusetts, where the President is spending the weekend, and the call lasts for a little bit over 20 minutes.144
August 6, 1962
One day after Marilyn’s death is made public, Attorney General Robert Kennedy announces that J. Edgar Hoover has been doing a great job as FBI Director and will be kept on in that position even though he is past the age of mandatory requirement. This is nothing less than a complete reversal of an established goal of the Kennedy Administration, which was to force Hoover out and replace his important position with a true Kennedy ally. Hoover was bitter enemies with the Kennedy brothers (with Robert Kennedy in particular—it was a known fact that the two men despised each other, both personally and professionally). Bobby and his Justice Department were literally at war with the Mob, while Hoover was still officially denying that the Mafia even existed. So Bobby had been pushing JFK to fire him, and it was considered evident that Hoover’s days were numbered (and a low number, at that). Even Bobby’s statement is seething with ridicule, if one examines it closely: “the FBI Director has done an outstanding job of controlling the Communist Party in the United States, and I hope he will serve the country for many, many years to come.”145 (Bobby openly considered the “threat” of Communists in the U.S. to be little more than a joke at this point, designed in part for the purpose of shielding the truer threats to security). The fact that Robert Kennedy makes such a dramatic reversal one day after the death announcement is indicative of dramatic goings-on behind the scenes. Marilyn’s home was bugged, her phones were tapped and she was being followed under extensive surveillance by the FBI. Therefore, Hoover obviously had access to that info (he had ordered it) and would have known that Robert Kennedy was at her home on the day of her death. The obvious inference is that a secret accord was reached to accede to Hoover’s wish to continue as Director, in exchange for his cooperation in the cover-up, especially in relation to Robert Kennedy’s presence in Los Angeles that day. Politics isn’t pretty. There are actually 18 credible citings of Robert Kennedy being in L.A. that day—he may have had witnesses who swore that he never left Northern California on August 4--but he was in L.A. However, it bears noting, that Robert Kennedy’s presence there in no way implies his involvement in Marilyn’s death—if anything, quite the contrary. If Robert Kennedy would have had any indication there would be violence at Marilyn’s home, he would not have even set foot in the state of California, let alone be at her house. Therefore, it appears she was killed for the very reason of implicating him by his presence there (just as Hoover had warned), in an effort to smear the Kennedy brothers with a public the Kennedy brothers with a public scandal that would ruin them politically (which, in the context of 1962 America, was a very realistic expectation). The “cover-up” which followed, appears to be a very cl
ear effort to foil that attempt by the swift and almost surgical removal of any and all links to the Kennedy brothers at Marilyn’s home by LAPD, with full cov-erage (especially on phone records) by the FBI and Justice Department, and the accompanying emergency exit—getting the Attorney General out of L.A. in the tumultuous hours after her murder.146
However, bear in mind that, as we noted in our introduction, those who cover up a crime are not necessarily the ones who commit it. Cover-ups occur for any number of reasons, often under the guise (and protection) of “National Security.” And if the White House is compromised, that is National Security.
Furthermore, the Kennedy brothers were clearly not in the habit of murdering girlfriends to keep them quiet. There is no precedent in their highly detailed histories to suggest anything close to resorting to murder as a means of “damage control.” As Attorney General and President of the United States, they had much more effective means at their disposal and there is every indication that they utilized those means thoroughly and successfully. Every bit of evidence linking Marilyn to a romantic affair or sexual liaison with President Kennedy suddenly vanished off the face of the earth in the immediate aftermath of Marilyn’s death. And, in the context of 1962 America, there were very prescient reasons to make sure that it did.
Press coverage documents the fact that Bobby Kennedy arrived in San Francisco with his wife and four of their children on Friday afternoon, August 3, 1962. They were visiting friends for the weekend at the ranch of the Bates family in Gilroy, about 50 miles south of San Francisco International Airport.
“But in the process of his Mon roe investigation, LAPD Captain Thad Brown discovered something quite startling: the Attorney General had been in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 4th”147
But you can cover a lot of ground when you’re Attorney General of the United States and have the entire Department of Justice, including the FBI, following your direction.
“Further evidence uncovered by Summers suggests that as soon as Monroe died, RFK persuaded J. Edgar Hoover to save him from scandal by obliterating all evidence— such as telephone company records linking him to Monroe. Summers mentions that LAPD Chief of Detectives Thad Brown knew of the affair and notes that speculation in the newspapers that LAPD Chief William H. Parker had kept RFK’s name out of the investigation into Monroe’s death “to curry favor with the Kennedys.” Summers also suspects that LAPD officers helped private detectives hired by RFK to obscure the senator’s links to Monroe. In 1975, the LAPD conducted a reinquiry into Monroe’s death under the supervision of Daryl Gates, who refused to make the investigative files public.”148
In that context, the cover-up forced the hand of other investigative agencies. Evidence seemed to be disappearing much quicker than those investigating the crime could unearth it. Therefore, under the probable guise of “National Security,” the agencies with less clout were apparently placed in a position in which they were forced to play ball, succumbing to the efficiently wielded bureaucratic power coming from higher up.
“Summers notes the DA’s office no longer possesses the reports on Monroe and RFK filed years ago by one of its own investigators, Frank Hronek, now deceased. On the November 5, 1988 edition of Fox TV’s The Reporters, former Deputy DA John Miner said his own report on Monroe is also missing from the DA’s office.”149
In any cover-up, there are obviously facts that an individual or individuals believe need covering up; and in the case of Marilyn’s death, that fact would certainlyappear to be the affairs with President Kennedy and then Attorney General Robert Kennedy. A cover-up could also be the result of obscuring the fact that others were trying to make that fact public knowledge. There were reportedly wiretaps of Marilyn’s phone lines that were not authorized by the Justice Department; the suggestion being that someone, such as organized crime, was attempting to obtain proof of an affair between Marilyn and one of the Kennedys and then use that evidence to blackmail or smear the White House.
“If Summers is correct, local police and prosecutors were investigating Monroe’s death at the same time the FBI was eradicating local evidence of her affair with RFK. Local officials therefore had to know of Hoover’s illegal effort to save Kennedy from scandal. Certainly, it is hard to imagine that LAPD Chief Parker didn’t know the FBI was seizing or destroying evidence on his turf. That the affair remained secret for years suggest that the LAPD and the DA acqui-esced or assisted in, Hoover’s cleaning up after RFK.”150
In short, the simple fact of the matter was that Marilyn apparently (and admittedly) had an extramarital sexual liaison with the President of the United States and then had a sexual relationship with the Attorney General- and that could not be made public. Combine that with the fact that the Attorney General was drawn into the crime scene near the actual time of death and you’ve got a whopper of a cover-up to come up with. But the Kennedys knew how to play hardball, even with the tough guys from the rough side of town, and in 1962, they had their horses all lined up to play it to perfection . and they did.
Evidentiary Indications of Violence
•An abrupt change quite obviously took place at Marilyn’s home on the night of her death because she quickly went from “laughing and joking” on the telephone with “her laughter ringing through the house” during the calls just prior to her death—to a corpse at a crime scene. As Chief Medical Examiner Thomas Noguchi later noted in his book Coroner:
No one has been able to explain why Marilyn “was laughing happily with Joe DiMaggio, Jr.” and then “dying only thirty minutes later.” (Coroner, Thomas T. Noguchi, M.D. & Joseph Dimona, 1983)
•Several friends who spoke to her shortly prior to her death reported that she sounded fine, i.e., there was nothing suicidal in her behavior during the final moments. She was planning things, making a hair appointment, and expressing her desire to continue conversations. As Dr. Noguchi noted: “Monroe’s friends and associates said that her career, which had been in a decline, was now on an upswing. So, they insisted, there was no reason for her to have suddenly committed suicide.” Therefore, we have a very non-suicidal victim, closing her bedroom door for the last time, in a very non- suicidal frame of mind, and entering a bedroom which does not at that time have a broken window allowing access from the outside (as it did a short time later).
•That broken bedroom window on the window without burglar bars is very consistent with forced entry.
•Her final phone call reportedly contained a highly suspicious event in which the caller stated that she put down the telephone to go and check on a noise that she had heard and never came back to the call.
•Victim was quickly incapacitated. She is checking on a noise one moment, and is dead a few minutes later. Something apparently rendered her incapable of further action.
•The high presence of Chloral Hydrate (known as “knockout drops” for their quick debilitating effect) at a level of seventeen to eighteen tablets minimum, suggests it may have been used to silence the decedent (it is clearly far in excess of anything close to a normal dose and, at the level present, would render a person defenseless and unconscious).
•Large, fresh bruise reaching from lower-left back down left hip. Dr. Noguchi later stated that this bruise was an obvious “sign of violence” that should have been thoroughly investigated and was not.
“On Monroe’s lower left back was an area of slight ecchymosis, a dark reddish-blue bruise that results from bleeding into the tissues through injury. And the color of the bruise indicated that it was fresh rather than old. A bruise means wreckage. Human tissue and blood vessels have broken under the impact of an external blow ... “
“There is no explanation for that bruise. It is a sign of violence.”
•In addition to the large hip bruise, the Coroner’s initial examination report also noted bruises on victim’s arms and on the backs of both legs. That’s an indication that force had possibly been used to hold the victim down.
•Bruised colon. The autopsy report reads:
“The colon shows marked congestion and purplish discoloration.” According to John Miner, head of the Medical-Legal Division of the D.A.’s Office, this was the “smoking gun” that pointed to homicide.
•Both Medical Examiner Noguchi & District Attorney’s Office Miner later concluded that the vehicle of ingestion was anal:
“Noguchi and I were convinced this was absolutely the route of admitting the fatal dose.”
•Massive and obviously fatal overdose delivered anally is further indicative of homicide (oral ingestion, injection and I.V. were medically ruled out). Her body had enough toxicity to kill fifteen people and that’s way over-kill, by any stretch of the imagination. That’s the type of math used by killers, not by suicides.
•Victim had restricted access to Nembutal. It has been clearly established that Marilyn did not have access to anywhere near that much Nembutal. She may have had a prescription for twenty-five capsules (although that was missing, per her psychiatrist), but she clearly did not have access to more. The drug levels in her blood were far in excess of twenty-five Nembutal capsules.
•The conflicting statements in witness testimony are separable into two distinct groups: all her friends, who had no reason to lie, stated that she sounded fine; and all of her “handlers” (doctors, lawyer, housekeeper, and Peter Lawford), who were quite obviously covering something up and got caught changing their stories, stated that she was very, very upset.
