Free Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country's Most Controversial Cover-Ups by Richard Belzer, David Wayne Page B

violence” that should have been investigated as such. Also noted were bruises on her arms and on the backs of both legs. Autopsy report reads “The colon shows marked congestion and purplish discoloration;” which the head of the medical/ legal section at the District Attorney’s office considered the “smoking gun,” indicating homicide.
    VICTIM DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO DRUGS THAT KILLED HER: Marilyn was being successfully “weaned” off of Nem- butal by her two doctors—who were working together, gradually reducing both her reliance upon and her access to the drug; so she was taking much less of a dosage. The prescriptions filled during the last five weeks of Marilyn’s life are almost completely accounted for. The only Nembutal that Marilyn had even possible access to was a prescription on August 3, 1962 for twenty-five capsules. Yet, the autopsy revealed a massive overdose, many times more than the amount to which she had access.
    Her clear lack of access is further evidenced by the fact that, on her final day, her psychiatrist— after a two hour Saturday afternoon session at Marilyn’s home— telephoned Marilyn’s doctor to ask if he could come over and give her something to help her sleep because she had had a tough day (her doctor was unable to comply). Upon leaving Marilyn’s home that evening, Marilyn’s psychiatrist was professionally confident that Marilyn had calmed down and would be fine and, as a failsafe, even asked the housekeeper (who watched over Marilyn and reported directly to her psychiatrist) to spend the night at Marilyn’s home, just to keep an eye on her.
    The lack of access is further evidenced by the fact that Marilyn called Dr. Greenson later in the evening to relay some good news, and she used that occasion to ask him if he had taken her Nembutal prescription. Dr. Greenson answered that no, he had not—but he was therefore cognizant of the fact, and relieved, that Marilyn had no access to any Nembutal. It is further confirmed via the testimony from a friend who stated that Marilyn telephoned her between 9:00 and 9:30 PM, told her she was having trouble getting to sleep and asked her if she had any sleeping pills that she might be able to bring over to Marilyn (the friend was unable to comply). Minutes later, Marilyn was dead.
    METHOD OF DEATH: The only way that the massive amount of drugs could have entered Marilyn’s body was anally. (Forensic experts ruled out all other possibilities.) Combined with her bruises and, especially her bruised colon, this is a clear indicator of possible murder. The chief of the Medical/ Legal Division for the D.A. later stated: “That autopsy, Dr. Noguchi and I saw a considerable area of the sigmoid colon, which is the lower portion of the large intestine, which was congested and dark purplish in color. This is totally anomalous. I’ve seen many other autopsies of barbiturate deaths and I have never seen that phenomenon.”
    INDICATIONS OF RAPID DEATH: Rapid death is a sign of possible murder because it is inconsistent with a typical overdose. In a typical drug suicide, the victim succumbs slowly and usually vomits and experiences muscle contortions as their body attempts to expel the toxic substance. There were no signs of these typical reflex actions at Marilyn’s death scene. Instead, the body lay perfectly straight with no mess from vomiting or gagging.
    It was a known fact among her friends that Marilyn had difficulty swallowing pills and often gagged when taking only one. To posit that she swallowed scores of capsules without gagging or vomiting is simply not believable.
    The victim also displayed cyanosis (bluish discoloration of the extremities) and still had stool in her colon.
    Cyanosis is the deep blue-purplish discoloration to the skin, gums, fingers, or mucous membranes that occurs from a sudden and overall lack of oxygen in the blood. An overall lack of oxygen is usually the result of a trauma, such as strangulation, choking,