by David Wayne
•Even though her two doctors (who certainly knew better) were present at scene, the police were not called for over six hours. When the police asked them what they were doing all that time, they answered “talking.” When asked what they were talking about, they simply gestured blankly. Something was obviously wrong, and a cover story was obviously being prepared. The body had definitely been moved and the witness statements were transparently false.
•Drawers and cabinet in Marilyn’s guest cottage were reportedly broken into on the day of her death and things were obviously taken. It was known by friends that the cabinet in the cottage was where she usually kept her personal journal, in which some said they had wit-nessed her taking notes about Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s comments, at times even in his presence. The existence of her journal, or diary, has been disputed. However, her filing cabinet had definitely been broken into on the night of her death and her home had obviously been “sanitized.”
Therefore, we have an intelligent, successful woman, retiring to bed at 7:50 p.m. on a Saturday night, in an excellent and notably non- suicidal frame of mind, bringing her phone into her bedroom for the last time, not locking her bedroom door (as Mrs. Murray eventually concedes), near a window that is obviously not broken at that time as far as the knowledge of she and Mrs. Murray (because had they thought it broken, they surely would have addressed a broken, unbarred window allowing access to the world’s most famous star’s bedroom—and, further to that point, Mrs. Murray indeed said she did immediately address the issue of the broken window as soon as she learned of it, by calling her son-in-law to come over and board it up— and that was even in the middle of the night). Therefore, that broken window, allowing access from the outside, was not, to their knowledge, at that time, broken—and it was broken later that night. That spells foul play. Her last caller referred to her hearing a noise and then never coming back to the phone. No tape marks on mouth doesn’t rule out foul play.
If she wasn’t subdued, she could have simply yelled for Mrs. Murray, who was certainly within earshot. But note that if Chloroform had been used to control her, it would likely not show up at the autopsy. As Dr. Michelle Dupre, Medical Examiner and forensic pathologist states: “But if the person, say, was given Chloroform to knock them out, it is not likely that that would show up.”151 But severe bruising did show up at autopsy, and some of the bruising was consistent with having been held down.
•John Miner, head of the Medical-Legal Department at the D.A.’s Office, was the only person granted the opportunity to listen to Marilyn’s taped private psy-chiatric sessions, and even then only under the legally binding condition that he not discuss their contents:
“But what he heard on the tapes, and his debriefing interview with Dr. Greenson, had con-vinced him that Marilyn Monroe had NOT committed suicide.” (Marshall, The DD Group, p. 399, emphasis in original)
•Medical Examiner Noguchi concluded:
“Thus, if Miner’s evalua-tion in 1962 was correct, the only conceivable cause of Monroe’s death was murder.”
•Dr. Sidney B. Weinberg, Chief Medical Examiner, Suffolk County, New York, investigated the case and concluded:
“The evidence points to all of the classic features of a homicide, much more so than a suicide.”
•Sgt. Jack Clemmons, Night Watch Commander, LAPD, who was the first officer on the scene, maintained to his dying day that it was murder. Decades later, he stated:
“In my opinion, Marilyn Monroe was murdered that night. In fact, it was the most obvious case of murder I ever saw.”
Based on the work and statements of Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner, Los Angeles County, California; John Miner, Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles, California; Dr. Sidney B. Weinberg, Chief Medical Examiner, Suffolk County, New York; Sgt. Jack Clemmons, Los Angeles Police Department. See: Coroner, Thomas T. Noguchi with Joseph DiMona, 1983; “Did Marilyn Monroe Commit Suicide? Or was she murdered because of her political involvement?’; Sherman A. Meeds, Jr., May 19, 2009.
MEDICAL & LEGAL IMPLI-
CATIONS
It’s not really the cause of Marilyn’s death that’s observably noteworthy from an evidentiary standpoint; it’s the vehicle of delivery. We know that her bloodstream contained a huge amount of the two powerful tranquilizers, Nembutal and Chloral Hydrate; enough to kill fifteen people. However, as a clear result of the autopsy, we know that they were not ingested into her body in typical fashion. Her stomach and digestive tract were thoroughly examined and revealed an extremely curious finding: there were no traces of the drugs in the stomach.
Nembutal contains a strong yellow dye that usually leaves yellowish traces in the digestive tract. Yet there was none of the dye in her stomach. Furthermore, there were no needle punctures on her body, therefore, the drugs were not injected either. To a forensic scientist, these facts imply a clear indication: the drugs entered her bloodstream by a method other than swallowing all of those pills.
As the character Sherlock Holmes famously put it: “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Therefore, the drugs had to get into her body via a different method of delivery. That delivery was apparently anal, via a drug- laced enema. That method is also supported by additional autopsy findings. It’s also supported by other medical evidence.
It has never been officially acknowledged that an enema was the delivery vehicle of the sedatives. Yet, via the elimination of all other possibilities, it quite literally had to be an enema. A drug-filled suppository can also be ruled out because that would apparently have caused much more obvious inflammation on the lining of the colon than was present or visible.
We can even deduce what type of enema was used. A traditional bag-and-hose enema would have been very problematic (this is the old-fashioned type enema with a long, extended hose that was and still is commonly used to combat constipation). It’s unlikely that an enema of this type was used for several reasons. If this type had been used, it most likely would have emptied her bowel—and we know from the autopsy that her bowel was not empty as there was the presence of “formed stool” clearly noted on the autopsy. Yet none of the police officers noted a scent of stool at the house. The bag-and-hose type enema also would have created inflammation on the lining of the colon, just as a suppository would, which would have been visible at autopsy.
A much simpler type of enema is the small syringe-type, with no bag, that is basically just a small bulb that is gently squeezed, forcing its contents up into the colon. This is the type of enema that appears to have been used. The purplish discoloration noted in Marilyn’s colon is precisely consistent with the use of the bulb-type enema, because it squirts the enema solution upward inside the rectum until it hits the wall of the lining of the colon: that’s exactly the location that the heavy purplish discoloration was present. Therefore, it was via a disingenuous method—false appearances that were factually misleading—that the Discovery Channel documentary, Unsolved History: Death of Marilyn Monroe in 2003 was able to arrive at the conclusion that an enema could not have been how the lethal drugs were introduced: because they focused solely on the old-fashioned and messy bag-and-hose type enema, and they completely ignored that the simple syringe-type enema could have easily been used. Furthermore, both the crime scene evidence and the forensic evidence, especially the colon discoloration, fit perfectly with the use of the syringe-type enema.
Another possibility that investigators have looked at, is a theory that Marilyn was accidentally given an enema containing too much of the drug—i.e., a tragically fatal medical miscalculation. After all, enemas were popular in 1962, actresses used them for weight control, and it’s known that Marilyn sometimes used them and that they had been administered to her in the past by her housekeeper, Mrs. Murray. However, we thoroughly investigated that possibility and we can say this with complete confidence that it was not the case.
Medical research specialist Tony Pl
ant examined the possibility that Marilyn had somehow died as the result of a horrible medical miscalculation. A seemingly plausible scenario goes like this: Since Dr. Greenson did not give injections to Marilyn himself and always relied on Marilyn’s internist, Dr. Engleberg, for that, and since Engleberg was unavailable on Marilyn’s last evening, it’s possible that Dr. Greenson could have arranged to pick up a solution of liquid Nembutal, to be administered via enema, to be given to Marilyn later that night so that she could get some sleep. Then, it’s possible that Mrs. Murray, an in-home support worker for Dr. Greenson’s clients, could have mistakenly administered an entire bag of liquid Nem- butal in the enema solution (fifty cc’s), rather than the intended dosage of five cc’s, resulting in the massive overdose. It’s possible— or is it?
We determined that we can medically rule out the possibility that fifty cc’s of Nembutal were accidentally given to Marilyn instead of a prescribed dosage of five cc’s of Nembutal liquid solution. Had that been the case, the enema would have been prepared by her housekeeper. Marilyn’s psychiatrist (who saw her almost daily), Ralph Greenson, also knew Marilyn’s housekeeper very well. Greenson knew he could trust her: It was Dr. Greenson who had placed Mrs. Murray in the job at Marilyn’s home, so Greenson knew that he could count on her, and Eunice faithfully reported back to him on Marilyn’s habits and health.
On the day of Marilyn’s death, Dr. Greenson had made a very rare visit to Marilyn’s home in Brent- wood in the late afternoon. It was rare due to the fact that he normally never treated her at her home. But it was reported to him that Marilyn was very upset (probably as a result of the now-established visit to her home that afternoon by Robert Kennedy), so Greenson made an exception and paid her a house call. Not only did he treat her at her home on a weekend, he conducted a lengthy psychiatric session of over two hours, not leaving until he was sure that Marilyn had settled down and was back in control of herself. Greenson was concerned enough for her well-being that he also made sure that Mrs. Murray planned on spending the night and keeping an eye on her. Greenson was relieved when Marilyn called him later that evening to tell him about her phone call with Joe, Jr., conveying the news that he was not getting married, which Marilyn was very happy about. Marilyn also asked Dr. Greenson during that same phone call, if he had taken her Nembutal prescription because she couldn’t locate it. Greenson responded that he had not, but he was actually relieved to hear it confirmed that Marilyn did not have access to any Nembutal at that time. After being “weaned down” on her use, she was usually given an injection of Nembutal by Dr. Engleberg, when deemed necessary. Since Dr. Engleberg knew he was going to be unavailable for injections for a short period of time in the upcoming days, he had given Marilyn a prescription for twenty-five Nembutal, in the event she needed it to stave off any remaining withdrawal symptoms from the drug. Normally though, she was taking Chloral Hydrate if needed, to calm her nerves, and Dr. Greenson knew that she had that if needed; so, he was happy to hear that there was no Nembutal in the house. Anyone else observe here that this very noteworthy confirmation even comes to us via the very person who was forced by circumstances into helping create the cover story that Marilyn had committed suicide?
It’s only remotely conceivable that Mrs. Murray recklessly and mistakenly placed an entire bag of liquid Nembutal, containing fifty cc’s of the drug, in an enema solution. However, also recall that no drugs were swallowed or injected into Marilyn’s body that night.
We can also rule out the possibility that Marilyn administered the enema herself as a method of committing suicide. Recall that Marilyn’s doctor made sure that Marilyn’s housekeeper was spending the night, because they wanted to keep an eye on her after her having been upset that afternoon. Following the two-hour in-home psychiatric session, Dr. Greenson felt she was well enough to stay at home, rest, and maybe even have Mrs. Murray take her for a drive later along the beach if she was feeling better. So, even if her doctors actually had sent over a bag of liquid Nembutal for an enema, and even if it had been fifty cc’s of Nembutal in the bag, they most certainly would not have left Marilyn alone with it after she had been in a disturbed state earlier that day. Furthermore, when Marilyn went to her bedroom for the last time at 7:45, she casually said goodnight to Mrs. Murray and added “I guess we won’t be taking that drive after all.” Mrs. Murray had no idea what she meant at the time, but later learned that Dr. Greenson had suggested the drive as a possibility. That was a very natural exchange between two people. The point though, is that had Mrs. Murray been instructed to prepare an enema containing Nembutal, she would have already done so prior to the time that Marilyn retired to her bedroom for the evening. Therefore, the facts simply don’t support any possibility that a liquid Nembutal solution had been sent to Marilyn’s home by her doctors and fifty cc’s of Nembutal had been prepared in the enema solution, by accident or by design (i.e., suicide).
With all this information, there shows that some strong reasons exist which virtually elimi-nate the possibility of medical miscalculation:
a.)There is absolutely no evidentiary indication whatsoever that a bag of liquid Nembutal was obtained from Dr. Engle- berg (or from anyone else, for that matter);
b.)Given the fact that Dr. Green- son and Dr. Engleberg were both deeply involved in the current and successful treatment of Marilyn’s addiction to Nembutal and were gradually weaning her off its use, it is almost impossible to imagine them not being careful with the dosage and not mentioning the specific dosage for the support worker (bear in mind that Marilyn’s housekeeper is a companion placed in her home by Dr. Greenson) to give her at bedtime. Marilyn was Greenson’s prized patient, and it is well-established that he cared for her. It was in both his professional and personal interest to look out for her safety;
c.)Even if her housekeeper had mistook fifty cc’s for five cc’s and mistakenly given her a fatal dose, there is no way she would have added a huge dosage of Chloral Hydrate to the Nembutal (bear in mind that Marilyn’s bloodstream also had the equivalent of at least seventeen tablets of Chloral Hydrate— she had been taking a few every day while being weaned off of the Nembutal—but a few a day is a far cry from seventeen all at once);
d.)If it had been some horribly unfortunate form of medical miscalculation, at no time in the several decades following did anyone ever imply it—and you’d think it would have been a relief to mention it—in addition to the aspect of cleansing their conscience, medical accident is a much more comforting scenario to most than is murder or suicide.
e.)When we also consider the amount of Nembutal in the liver (2.88 times the amount in her bloodstream), the total amount of Nembutal in Marilyn’s body at autopsy is dramatically in excess of the amount in a fifty cc’s bag of liquid Nembutal (and that was the largest size bag of liquid Nembutal that was distributed to doctors in 1962). A fifty cc bag contains thirty-seven and one half grains of Nembutal, the equivalent of twenty-five of the capsules she’d been prescribed. But Marilyn’s Nembutal levels were more than double that number, in fact, almost triple—and that’s just counting the amount in her bloodstream, not in her liver.
f.)Furthermore, if it had been an accident, then she wouldn’t even have been conscious to be on the phone calls that she was apparently on later that evening. And she certainly wouldn’t have needed to phone old friend Jeanne Carmen about 9:00 on the night of her death and ask her to bring over a couple of sleeping pills!
The facts also preclude the possibility of oral ingestion or hypodermic injection. The drugs entered her body anally via a drug-laced enema. That’s not a theory, it’s a fact. That’s how the woman died. We can, therefore, deduce from those known facts that only one of three possibilities occurred:
1.The drug-laced enema was self- administered suicide;
2.Medical miscalculation gave her a lethal dose;
3.Her killers subdued her and then administered the enema.
One of the above is true. Since Marilyn did not have access to the liquid Nembutal tha
t would be used in an enema, and since her doctors were weaning her off the drug, they clearly would not have given her access (especially on a day that had been stressful to begin with), we can rule out self-administered suicide. Since the largest bags that liquid Nembutal was medically distributed in, circa 1962, contained fifty cc’s, and her actual Nembutal levels in her bloodstream were almost triple that level, we can also rule out medical miscalculation. That leaves Murder. The fact that there was obvious bruising of the hips and marked discoloration of the colon are indications that, just as Medical Examiner Noguchi later stated, there were “signs of violence.”
The facts, therefore, necessitate the conclusion that the case was actually a murder. Examine the evidentiary implications in their entirety: Marilyn had fifteen times a fatal dose in her body-enough to kill an elephant. No doctor in the world would make an error of such a huge magnitude. It would have been an accident of gigantic proportion, difficult to imagine even with bad doctors and a typical patient—and Marilyn actually had good doctors, and she was their most famous patient! So we can effectively rule out accident, we can definitely rule out oral ingestion, and we can also rule out self-administered injec-tion. We can actually rule out injection by anyone because the autopsy was specifically looking for that and found nothing.
