It was June 25, 2009 and Michael Jackson was just over two weeks away from beginning his 50-show concert residency at the O2 arena in London.
The concert series, which was the first significant tour since the 2001 Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, were described as “the greatest comeback in the history of pop”.
But the shows would never go ahead.
On that day, 10 years ago, Michael Jackson’s personal physician, Conrad Murray, found the performer in bed at around 12pm. He wasn’t breathing.
Watch the trailer for Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland below. Post continues after video.
After administering CPR on Jackson to no avail, Murray called paramedics to his home in the Holmby Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
Once they arrived, the paramedics tried to revive Jackson before he was transported to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. At 2.26pm, he was pronounced dead.
On the day after Jackson’s death, an autopsy discovered a combination of drugs in the singer’s system including propofol, lorazepam, midazolam and diazepam.
The death was concluded to be a homicide following acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication. In 2011, Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
The Quicky, Mamamia’s daily news podcast, discusses Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland. Post continues after audio.
Now, a decade on from Michael Jackson’s sudden death, a new documentary, Killing Michael Jackson, is investigating the death of the singer.
Here’s four things we’ve learned so far from the new documentary.
1. Conrad Murray allegedly waited 25 minutes to call paramedics.
In the documentary, detectives Orlando Martinez, Dan Myers and Scott Smith, who were the first LA police to enter Jackson’s bedroom, alleged that Jackson’s personal physician Conrad Murray waited 25 minutes before he attempted to revive the performer or contact paramedics.
Detective Martinez claimed that Murray spent those 25 minutes making phone calls, sending emails and clearing away medical supplies while Jackson wasn’t breathing.
“Mr Murray started cleaning up the mess that he had left, covering up the medical treatment that he was giving,” Martinez claimed.
“He put that away, called for help from security, and directed them to call 911 while he gave ineffective, one-handed CPR.”
Martinez also claimed that Murray hid receipts for propofol, an anaesthetic drug administered to Jackson in high doses, at his girlfriend’s apartment following Jackson’s death.
2. The detectives claimed Murray should have been convicted of second-degree murder.
In 2011, Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to the maximum of four years in prison. After two years, however, Murray was released from jail.
Today, his medial licences remain suspended or revoked – but there’s still debate over whether he should have spent more time in prison.
In the documentary, detectives Martinez, Myers and Smith all claimed that Murray should have been convicted of second-degree murder.
They believe Murray administered a dose of the drug that was lethal and purposefully kept him under the influence.
In the documentary, professor of anaesthesiology Steve Shafer described how Murray allegedly negligently administered the drug.
“Murray was using the saline bag to hang the bottle of propofol from the stand and also, I think, to hide it because he didn’t want anybody to know he was using propofol,” Shafer said.
“It’s insane. Nobody trained in the use of propofol would ever walk away from a patient who is receiving propofol as a continuous infusion.”
The detectives also discovered Murray’s medical bag, which was hidden on the property.
“We found a bunch more medicines that were used, like propfol,” Martinez said.
“We found all the waste, all the trash. The needles, the empty bottles, the stuff that, when we went in the room, should have been laying there,” he added, alleging that Murray had attempted to clean up before calling paramedics to the property.
3. The notes on Michael Jackson’s bedroom walls.
The three detectives also described the state of Jackson’s bedroom, which had been turned into a makeshift medical room.
“There were post-it notes or pieces of paper taped all over the room, and mirrors and doors with little slogans or phrases,” Martinez said in the documentary.
“I don’t know if they were lyrics or thoughts. Some of them seemed like poems,” he added.
“The bedroom was… it was a mess.”
4. What Michael Jackson’s bedroom looked like.
The new documentary shares photographs from within Jackson’s bedroom and a makeshift home treatment room.
“I just remember going in there and there was an IV stand, a saline bag and just various medications strewn about,” Detective Smith said in the documentary.
“There was a computer on the bed, there was a lifelike doll on the bed, and there was kind of like advertisements, pictures of babies,” he added.
Documentary ‘Killing Michael Jackson’ will appear on Channel Nine on July 8 at 9.15pm.
For more on this topic:
- Without us noticing, it looks like Michael Jackson groomed us for decades.
- The signs Michael Jackson was grooming the children he was close to that so many missed.
- “It wasn’t going to mean anything”: Why Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley.
- ‘Blanket’ Jackson was just seven when his father died. This week he stopped talking.
- The two boys who followed Wade Robson into Michael Jackson’s bed insist they weren’t abused.
- Debbie Rowe says she gifted Michael Jackson two children because he was a ‘wonderful man’.