The death of Marilyn Monroe?

Marilyn Monroe was born in Los Angeles on June 1st 1926, she was called Norma Jeane Mortenson (baptized Norma Jane Baker), but later adapted the stage name Marilyn Monroe. After spending much of her childhood in foster homes she began modelling and was on the front cover of the first issue of playboy, she soon started her acting career which saw her star in many films such as All about Eve, Gentlemen prefer Blondes and Some like it Hot. and also had a singing career.

The last few years of Marilyn's life were marked with illness, personal problems, substance abuse and a reputation for being difficuilt to live with, she died in 1962 aged just 36, and her death was recorded as suicide, although their was many theories about her death including accidental overdose, and the most talked about homicide which has never actually been ruled out, Marilyn Monroe was voted the sixth greatest female star of all time in 1999, and has been a Idol and Pop Icon ever since her death, but did Marilyn really take her own life?

According to Chuck Giancana (the brother of crime boss Sam Giancana) Marilyn Monroe died from a doctored suppository, this was considered safe as it left no needle marks and their would be nothing in her stomach for paramedics to pump out, Chuck revealed this in his book Double Cross in 1992, apparently Marilyn was dangled as bait by the CIA to set up world leaders for blackmail. Meanwhile Joseph Schenck, who had Maffia connections and was the creater of 20th Century Pictures, became obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and played a key role in promoting her career. By 1960 Marilyn was romanticaly involved with President John F Kennedy, then in 1962 she fell for his brother Robert Kennedy, Marilyn became distraught at the way the brother's passed her back and forth between themselves and by July 1962 just one month before her death, Marilyn was threatening to blow the lid of the set up.

Marilyn now posed a threat to both the CIA and the Mob, and the CIA contacted Giancana to have her eliminated, they scheduled the hit to coincide with Robert Kennedys visit to California scheduled for the weekend of 4th August, On the night of the 4th, Needles Gianola and Mugsy Tortorella were stood outside Marilyn's Brentwood home on electronic surveillance. They saw Robert Kennedy call round, accompanied by another man and heard Marilyn become hysterical, Robert Kennedy instructed his friend a doctor, to give Marilyn a shot to calm her down, when they left, the killers apparently entered her house, taped Marilyn's mouth and inserted the suppository into her anus, her unconcious body was placed on her bed, then the tape was removed and her mouth wiped clean, Marilyn died, with Giancana hoping that Robert Kennedy would be implicated as the last man to see her alive. But over the wiretaps both Needles and Mugsy heard the cover-up get underway and alerted the President to Marilyns death, who then mobilised a team of FBI Agents, oredering Detective Fred Otash to sweep the place clean, and so Marilyns death was passed of to the world as a suicide. Many have since said that the Mob had Marilyn killed as a favour to the Kennedys, as part of their mutual support over Cuba, incidental backing for the rival theory of suicide comes from FBI Agent William Roemer, who bugged Giancana's headquarters and learned that Marilyn was depressed about the events of the previous weekend at the Cal-Neva Casino where she had been bedded and humiliated by both Giancana and Frank Sinatra in a orgy, and after already being passed back and forth between the Kennedy brothers she must have found the whole thing upsetting.

The Giancana Murder Scenario that later came to light was very compatible with many of the known facts, not least the purpleish discolouration of Marilyn's colon noted on her autopsy, The Los Angeles Chief of Police, William Parker, who was also a good friend of Robert Kennedy, had the death labelled as suicide from the start, allocating the death to the suicide investigation squad. After five days with her studio's active co-operation, Parker closed the case and all but thirty pages of the 723 page report into Marilyn's death was destroyed. A cover up was beyond doubt, but what was being covered up is still not really clear, the problem with Marilyn's death is her inconclusive autopsy, She died of a Nembutal overdose, with 4.5 percent barbiturates in her blood, yet preliminary examination showed her Kidneys were clean, suggesting her stomach was also free of drugs, which means she couldnt have taken by mouth the drugs she supposedly swallowed. At the time of the autopsy, Dr Thomas Noguchi ordered microscopic analysis of tissue from Marilyn's small intestine, and requested further tests on her Liver, Kidneys, and stomach, but the tests were never preformed as Marilyns organs were 'Accidentally' destroyed. The exact time of Marilyn's death is also suspect, rather than being found at 3.30am on the 5th August 1962, she may have been discovered comatose at 11.30pm the previous night, Walter Schaefer, owner of the local ambulance service, maintains that the star was still alive when his ambulance men arrived just before midnight, according to him she was driven to the hospital and then returned home after death, allowing time for a 'clean up' before her official discovery, and when Sergeant Jack Clemmons arrived at 4.30am rigor mortis had already set in. Marilyn's housekeeper, Eunice Murray said "I don't know why i didn't call the police until 3.30am,"

The original suicide theory is hard to believe, as to achieve her blood level of barbiturates, Marilyn would have had to swallow between 75 to 90 capsules, a nightmare for someone who hated taking tablets, especially without water as there was no glass by her bedside, and the water in her bathroom was turned off due to plumbing work, in any case Marilyn did not have enough pills anyway as she was down to 22 Nembutals on the morning of the 4th August and had no hidden reserves. A week before Marilyn's death, her housekeeper had searched her house for a secret stash, and in the days before her death Marilyn had unsuccessfuly tried to borrow from friends. Psychologically, many people close to the star had said she was on good form the days running up to her death, and Marilyn's psychologist Dr Ralph Greenson, said Suicide was just not an option in Marilyn's case, and Fox Productions Chief who was also one of the last people to talk to Marilyn said "We had just hired her back at a salary of half a million dollars, and she was ecstatic."  The crime scene didnt look right either as Marilyn had a strict bedtime routine, always sleeping in a fresh brassiere with earplugs and eye mask, in a darkened room with the curtains closed, yet she was discovered naked with the curtains open and the lights on. So the whole thing looked like murder either by injection or enema, Noguchi detected no needle marks on her body, but medical records show that Marilyn had recieved two jabs in the week before her death so Noguchi's examination was untrue, and anyway punctures made by small surgical needles can disappear within a few hours, however Noguchi did find evidence which indicated violence just before her death, he found bruising on her lower back areas and fresh bruises on her arms.

A key factor concealed from the public was Marilyn's association with Robert Kennedy, it is still denied that he was at her home the night of her death, but the helicopter company that flew kennedy out of the area still have the flight records of the transfer, the day of Marilyn's death the FBI pulled general telephone records of her frequent calls to Kennedy at the justice department in washington, the papers were recovered years after her death from a homicide detective's garage. The last person Marilyn called before her death was President John F Kennedy. Unfortunately for Marilyn, she posed a serious threat to the political stability of the united states, just like her scatty screen persona, she was always in a muddle of the screens too, Robert Kennedy once snapped at her "How can we carry on a conversation about current events if you can't remember the details," so Marilyn began to keep a diary full of Bobby said this, and Bobby said that, and one of the things Bobby said was that the CIA had hired the Maffia to kill Castro which was the administration's deepest secret, and that itself was enough to have Marilyn killed before she started telling people. Also there was the tapes, the Mob was using Marilyn to provide compromising evidence on the Kennedy Brothers, the hollywood detective Fred Otash was allegedly paid indirectly by the Maffia to install eavesdropping equipment at Marilyn's home, apparently he recorded exotic love scenes with the president, and also discussions of state secrets, in addition to this the FBI had been bugging the house for nearly a year during the year that the President regularly bedded Marilyn there.

So the theory is that Marilyn threatened to expose the President and his brother, on the evening of the 4th August 1962, Robert Kennedy then made a visit to her home, they rowed and Marilyn was given a sedative, Robert returned to his Brother's house to find Marilyn ranting on the telephone, probably threatening to call a press conference, The Kennedy's knew what they had said and done, and also knew about the notes and the tapes, so later that evening someone else paid a visit to Marilyn, and on behalf of the President of the United States and the Attorney General they killed her.  I guess we will never truely know what happened to Marilyn Monroe or the events that took place on that fateful night.

On August 8th 1962 Marilyn was interred in a crypt at corridor of memories #24, and the crypt space to the left of her was bought and reserved by Hugh Hefner in 1992.