Brittany Murphy: An ID Murder Mystery (2020) - full transcript
Documentary explores behind the scenes of the death of a popular young Hollywood performer.
Hollywood is a village, and once
you upset the villagers,
they talk and they gossip
and they rumor
and they have blood
on their hands.
And I hope they wash them
with very hot water
because the way they treated
brittany murphy
when she was alive
was terrible.
hi. My name is brittany murphy,
and I go to
herbert hoover middle school.
Narrator: She was a unique
talent with unlimited potential.
Garcia: You could just tell that
she was going to be a star.
Narrator: But at the age of 30,
brittany murphy
mysteriously perishes.
32-year-old women
just don't drop dead at home.
This sort of makes everybody
go, "what?"
narrator: In this special
report, we reveal
the troubling dynamics...
Ebner: He cut her off from
the outside world,
controlled her mind.
Narrator:In the relationship
that came to define her...
The more this man talked,
the more suspicious he became
how about stories that you are
a svengali?
Svengali?
Yeah.
I should be so lucky.
narrator:Speak exclusively
with members of her family...
She's my daughter.
She was everything to me.
It was terrible,
unbelievably terrible.
Narrator:And reveal
the explosive accusation
that casts everything in doubt.
Garcia: He suspected
that his daughter
had indeed been poisoned.
What was going on
inside that house?
sharon: Brittany,
please come back!
Garcia: It's 8:00 a.M. On
a Sunday, December 20, 2009.
And this frantic call
comes into 911
from a house
in the hollywood hills.
Very calmly and professionally,
the 911 operator is asking
questions relevant
to the situation.
But the woman is absolutely
beside herself and frantic.
Garcia: It's clearly
an urgent matter.
It is clearly an emergency.
So the 911 operator
tells the mom to check
if anything is blocking
her daughter's mouth.
The husband of the woman who's
not breathing on the floor,
he's entered the picture.
He gets down on his knees,
and he starts administering cpr.
narrator: Within minutes,
paramedics arrive
at the site of the emergency,
a mansion
in the hollywood hills.
Ebner: They are met by sharon,
the mother of the woman
on the bathroom floor
and her son in law,
a man named simon monjack.
He's a 40-year-old
heavyset englishman.
They go inside.
The bathroom the bathroom
is cluttered.
It's full of cosmetics
and hair products.
And they see a famous
hollywood actress,
115-pound brittany murphy.
Narrator: The struggling woman
is a hollywood superstar
whose story begins
three decades earlier.
Dimond: Brittany murphy was born
on November 10, 1977.
Her parents were sharon murphy
and angelo bertolotti.
They had an interesting
connection, and they met under
sort of unusual circumstances.
Ebner: Angelo bertolotti,
he's new york city born and bred
and wound up in florida,
where he owned night clubs.
Angelo had a shady background.
He was from the mob.
He met sharon, and he hired her
to work in one of his clubs.
She was kind of attracted
to that lifestyle,
the fountains of cash
that ran through that business.
Narrator: The couple soon weds.
But angelo's flashy ways
quickly lose their luster.
Angelo was in and out of jail
quite a bit,
and so the marriage didn't last.
They divorced when brittany
was just 2 years old.
Bertolotti: My name is
angelo j. Bertolotti,
and my daughter
is brittany murphy.
Well, yeah, I was involved
in my business
and little with the marriage.
Sharon knew I was involved
in organized crime.
I did nine years in prison.
I got in a lot of trouble.
So in 1980, fed up,
sharon took brittany
and moved to edison, new jersey.
To support her and her daughter,
sharon is working
in advertising.
Narrator: As they settle
in to suburban life,
young brittany starts to show
a penchant for entertaining.
Man: Brittany, how are
you doing today, brittany?
Great. How are you?
Very good. You want a job
hosting a television show?
Sure.
By the time she's 9 years old,
she's pointing at the television
and saying, "look, mommy,
I want to be there,
I want to be on tv."
give us your name
and what school you go to.
hi. My name is
brittany murphy,
and I go to herbert hoover
middle school.
Bertolotti: She was
very talented, yeah.
Extremely talented.
A very precocious child.
I'll tell you what.
I'm gonna give you a shot,
and you get
to interview.
I'll have you interview
people over here.
Okay, sure.
Hi. Do you like
the fair here today?
Yeah.
What's your name?
Carissa.
Where are you from?
Edison.
Here's a young brittany, who is
just shining on this video.
You could just tell that
she was going to be a star.
Narrator: Soon enough,
brittany sights are set
far beyond new jersey.
She heads to hollywood
with her mother by her side.
Hammond: Sharon was pretty much
brittany's pillar.
They were more of a friendship
as opposed to
mother and daughter.
Ebner: If it wasn't for
the age difference,
you would almost
mistake them for sisters.
In fact, they considered
each other soul mates.
Hammond: As brittany murphy
got her first job,
she started subsidizing
her and her mother's living.
The relationship
turned more daughter-mother.
So brittany ended
to looking after her mother
as opposed to
the opposite way around.
Narrator: In 1995, brittany's
fortune changes dramatically.
Garcia: "clueless" was
a blockbuster of a movie.
It was basically about
young girls in los angeles,
and brittany played a girl
who was picked on
and she has this metamorphosis
in the movie.
In fact, so many people
thought that brittany murphy
upstaged the star,
alicia silverstone.
Hammond: "clueless" was
a huge moment for
brittany murphy in her career.
But she was still typecast
as the fat, plump brunette.
So over a period of time,
she got thin and went blonde,
and people took notice
and she started getting
bigger roles.
Other offers come
fast and furious...
"8 mile", "sin city."
she could play dumb.
She could play smart,
inquisitive, comedy.
Narrator: As the star's career
evolves, so does her love life.
She had a tendency
to date her leading men.
When she was on "8 mile",
she dated eminem.
She did a movie
with ashton kutcher,
and she ended up
dating ashton, too.
There was a really wonderful
friendship that bloomed
on the set of a film.
We were not a pair until
I would say
10 months or 11 months
after the making of the film.
But the relationships
really don't go anywhere.
She dates them
for just a few months,
and she doesn't
really find love.
Narrator: But in 2006,
she encounters a man
who will change
her life forever.
Ebner: Brittany reads a script
based on the novel
"the white hotel."
she loves what she reads,
and she makes it her mission
to meet the screenwriter,
simon monjack.
Monjack: I'm linda monjack.
I am the mother
of simon monjack.
When he was about 10 or 11,
we went to disney,
and he said, "I'm gonna
live here one day."
and I'm going to be
in the movies.
Simon was a writer
and a filmmaker and a cameraman.
He could find the soul in
someone through the camera lens.
That was one of his
amazing attributes.
Ebner: Simon made
a name for himself
as a creative force
behind george hickenlooper's
"factory girl."
it was a movie that was loosely
based on the life
of andy warhol's muse
edie sedgwick.
Garcia: Simon and brittany,
they'd already
known each other casually.
They really had
no firm connection, though,
until that 2006 movie project.
That's when things
seemed to click.
Ebner: Brittany and simon,
they met, they discuss business,
but it was not just business.
He's an english gentleman.
Eight years her senior,
big, burly, protective,
dignified, well-spoken
englishman.
Brittany is smitten.
She's met the man
of her dreams.
Monjack: And he phoned me
the very day.
He said, "I've met
this crazy girl, mom.
She's a crazy, crazy girl,
but I think I'm a bit
in love with her."
I said, "oh, simon,
you've only just met her."
he said,
"she is an amazing woman,
and I'm falling for her now."
narrator: Simon and brittany
start dating.
And within a year,
they get married.
It was done very quickly.
I didn't know until after
the marriage, but I know simon
was very impulsive,
and I accepted that.
This was simon's third marriage
and his first marriage
that he was really in love.
Ebner: Right off the bat,
sharon moves in with them.
Their home in the hills is
a $3.9 million home.
It used to be owned
by brittany spears.
Brittany and simon
were going to start a new life.
Narrator: Two years later,
brittany murphy is unconscious
on her bathroom floor.
When the paramedics arrive
at brittany's home,
they immediately take control
of the situation.
They check her vital signs,
and it doesn't look very good.
In fact, it looks pretty grim.
But then suddenly, they detect
a very weak pulse.
They rush her to the ambulance.
Brittany murphy's life
is hanging by a thread.
Narrator: 32 year old actress
brittany murphy
is fighting for her life.
While brittany's
in the ambulance,
the paramedics are working
so hard to keep her alive
until they can get her
to the hospital.
Behind the ambulance in a car
is simon and sharon.
It must have seemed like
the longest ride of their lives.
They hightail it right to
cedars-sinai hospital.
Inside, they're trying to do
everything to revive this woman.
Doctors are trying
to get her heart started.
Modern medicine
is working overtime.
And yet, it's hopeless,
it's too late.
And at 10:05 a.M.
At cedars-sinai hospital,
brittany murphy
is declared dead.
Garcia: And the doctor said
that he was sorry
but there was nothing
he could do.
Sharon is hit hard by the news
and just falls apart.
She has just lost
her only daughter.
Simon phoned me and just said,
"brittany has died."
he was totally
and utterly devastated.
And I just felt so ill.
I couldn't breathe.
It was the most awful moment
that this beautiful, wonderful,
talented, amazing individual
could die.
Bertolotti: I was in shock.
I got a phone call. I was
living in florida at the time.
Really knocked me out.
I couldn't believe it, really.
It was my daughter.
She was everything to me.
As soon as brittany's
passing leaks out to the media,
they swarm.
Hollywood has been stunned today
by the death of
a rising young star.
Kiedis: We did a little thing
together one day
for the mtv awards, and I was
stricken by her presence
and her beauty and her charm,
and now she's gone.
She was such a talent.
I really loved her.
Very sad, a lot of questions,
obviously, swirling around
what happened.
Yeah, well,
we'll find out.
Narrator: As the public mourns
the loss of a rising star,
los angeles authorities
are in search of answers.
Winter: My name is ed winter.
I was the assistant chief for
the I.A. County coroner's office
during the brittany murphy
investigation.
I oversee all the high profile
celebrity death investigations
in the county,
including michael jackson,
whitney houston.
We got a copy of the medical
records and the admissions blood
and then responded
to brittany's residence.
The media was all
outside the house.
They were asking cause of death.
Was there any trauma
to her body?
Was there any foul play?
And I advised them
that we would be doing a autopsy
and come out with the findings
as soon as possible.
We interviewed simon
within a couple hours
of brittany's death.
He told me she was sick,
she had flu symptoms.
He was a little strange
in his mannerisms.
He appeared to be under
the influence of something.
He wouldn't sit down.
He just kept pacing
back and forth
and was kind of stoic
and kind of rambling.
People will react
in many different ways,
from crying
or just being silent.
But he appeared confused.
Narrator: Then simon takes issue
with winter's plan of action.
Winter: He had said that he
did not want an autopsy,
which I explained to him,
"we do autopsies any time
there's a death
unless they can provide
a religious objection
or a court order,"
which they never did.
Dimond: Why was simon
so dead set against the autopsy.
She's a 32-year-old woman
who should be very healthy.
32-year-old women
just don't drop dead at home.
Narrator: Winter and police soon
canvass the house for evidence.
Winter: When we searched
the bedroom,
we found approximately
90 different
prescription pill bottles
in simon's name on his side.
And we recovered some more
prescription bottles
from brittany's nightstand.
There was a large quantity
of prescription pills.
There were so many different
kinds of heavy duty drugs,
things for anxiety or depression
and very habit forming
pain killers.
These were serious drugs,
not to be taken lightly.
Narrator: In the wake of these
discoveries, reports emerge
that run counter to brittany's
good girl persona.
Now the media starts reporting
about strange occurrences
that were happening
with brittany
in her professional life.
For instance,
appearing high on the set,
not remembering her lines.
Things that were totally
out of character
and had affected her career.
A friend of mine
who wrote the movie "spun",
which brittany murphy starred
in, said, "you know, she wasn't
using drugs on the set,
but I know for a fact
she was smoking crack with
simon monjack after the fact."
hammond: Her career was
literally drying up
by the moment.
As her career declined,
she's still thought
she could demand the same things
as she could
when she was at her peak
during "8 mile" days.
But people were actually
closing doors on her
because they couldn't
work with her anymore.
Ebner: Her manager
and her agency dumped her,
and all of a sudden,
the phone stopped ringing.
Brittany's career was
in the
her career had tanked.
She was only getting offers
for very small, low budget
b-movies... thrillers,
horror films,
stuff that she never dreamed
she would see herself doing.
Narrator: Many connect
brittany's diminished career
to a major change in her life.
Ebner: It was no small
coincidence that people started
to notice her erratic behavior
at the very time
that she got with simon monjack.
Dimond: Her friends were saying
that he would control
who she talked to.
There were certain managers
and agents
he didn't allow her
to speak to.
He was telling her
what roles to take.
If you wanted
to get to brittany murphy,
you had to go through
simon monjack.
Another professional in
hollywood put it more bluntly.
She called him satan.
Narrator: The swirling rumors
soon cast brittany's death
in new light.
People actually started
to suspect that simon monjack
might have had something
to do with brittany's death.
Narrator: As the suspicion
mounts about simon monjack's
role in brittany murphy's death,
his past draws new scrutiny.
So while everyone's waiting
for the autopsy results,
people are starting to
come forward with many
dark truths about simon monjack.
One of the people was british tv
presenter simone bienne.
Simone bienne was
simon jack's first wife.
They met in 2001.
They got married in vegas.
To win his first wife,
simon actually told her
that he owned several
damien hirst paintings
and he was an heir
to a steel mill.
He literally didn't have
any of those.
As soon as they got married,
he moved into her property,
he became a slob
literally overnight.
And then within a few weeks,
they separated.
Monjack: My family were
extremely wealthy,
but he didn't actually
have that money.
He fell in love with her.
Very quickly realized
that she was not for him.
And I can't say it was
a good thing, but it was him.
Ebner: So they got a divorce,
and they come to a settlement.
Simon was ordered
to pay $50,000 to simone.
Did he pay up?
No.
Narrator: Skepticism surrounds
even simon's
most prominent credit.
Simon sued the production
of the movie "factory girl",
claiming that they'd stolen
his script to make the movie.
Rather than fight him in court,
they just gave him
a screenwriting credit
to make him go away.
Simon had built
his whole persona
around that particular credit
for "factory girl",
but it's just completely bogus.
He was able to create a story
based on small bits of fact
and then sell it further.
Throughout his career,
he made a lot of enemies,
and people just really generally
didn't like him.
Monjack: I really do think
that they got simon wrong.
He was such
an amazing story teller
that he would tell
the most outlandish
and ludicrous stories.
He was using people
to write his next script.
That was one of his drawbacks,
is that he sometimes
did actually mistake fantasy
for real life.
Ebner: Simon monjack
was a charlatan,
a con man, and an extortionist.
He cut her off
from the outside world.
He kept her cloistered
in that home.
Plied her with drugs,
controlled her mind.
He's bad news.
People actually started
to suspect that he might have
had something to do
with brittany's death.
Hammond: Simon monjack wanted
a get rich quick scheme.
He was a sociopath.
It could be that he saw
the dollar signs with brittany,
and that's all he needed.
Narrator: Two months
after her death,
brittany's toxicology report
is completed.
The conclusion is unexpected.
The final results
of brittany's autopsy
was she died of pneumonia.
She was anemic
and had an overdose
of over the counter medications.
Narrator: According to winter,
all three of these conditions
contributed to her death.
Winter: Brittany had gotten sick
with flu-like symptoms
for approximately
a week to 10 days.
A 32-year-old can die
if they are sick
and are just fed
over-the-counter medications.
And I think that's exactly
what happened to brittany.
Narrator: Anemia, a fairly
common blood condition,
further compromised
to remove system.
Ebner: Where did this
anemia come from?
It was attributed by the coroner
to brittany having
some unusually heavy periods.
The anemia kind of blew away
all her defenses
and made her a risk
for pneumonia.
Narrator: Despite reports
of prescription
and illicit drug abuse,
many are surprised
that neither played a prominent
role in brittany's demise.
Winter: Brittany's death
could have been prevented,
in my opinion, had they taken
her to the doctor or a hospital
instead of just
feeding her cough medicine
and different
non-prescription medications.
The medications I think masked
what the real problem was
and enough that simon or sharon
either didn't recognize it
or just brushed it off.
Why didn't he get help
if she was sick?
Why didn't he take her
to a doctor?
Brittany would be alive today.
There's no question about it.
Narrator: Simon's lack of
decisive action invites
even more media scrutiny.
In an attempt to defend himself,
he appears in a nationally
televised interview
alongside sharon murphy.
He begins with his account
of brittany's death.
What happened that day
was brittany had laryngitis.
I have no idea what to do
with laryngitis.
I'm a rabbi,
not a doctor.
So I pray
instead of prescribe.
Dimond: Everyone is wondering
why he didn't
take her to a doctor.
Now he's referring to himself
as a rabbi.
Come on.
Narrator: Then host larry king
raises the issue
of brittany's autopsy.
King: You didn't want
an autopsy at first.
No, I didn't.
To us,
it was such a shock.
This pristine body that is curvy
in all the right places...
it's not like she was
in a car accident.
The skin like silk.
And how could I say
in front of her mother,
"cut her up."
I mean, it was
just unfathomable.
I mean, what kind of
insanity is that?
Dimond: You know, it's hard
to think about your loved one
dead, someone cutting
into their body,
but the way that simon
described brittany's body...
"her pristine body,
her curvy body,"
it was just kind of creepy.
The press seems to think
we should be androids.
The press seems to think
that we shouldn't feel.
The press doesn't
understand loss.
How about stories that
you are a svengali,
a controlling factor?
A svengali?
Yeah.
I should be so lucky.
the more this man talked,
the more bizarre his personality
became, the more
suspicious he became.
And sharon murphy strikes people
as a little odd.
What was going on
inside that house?
Narrator: Monjack's botched
prime time interview
fails to quell
the public's doubt.
Ebner: People were still
wondering what the heck was up
with this
simon monjack character.
He decided to try
and head it off at the pass,
and he actually invited
radar magazine
to come in
and tour "the death house."
simon is still living there.
Yeah, you're
the first people to ever see
the infamous bathroom.
You can see my wife had
a penchant for cosmetics.
Well, most of
the cosmetics are mine
'cause I ended up
having to buy them over
the years for
the hair and makeup.
He showed the "death room,"
which was quite tragic
and a bit terrible.
This is the little doggie couch
where she actually fell.
She found clara's
chaise lounge.
And she was put her on side
right here next to
the chaise lounge.
He's smoking a cigar
while they have him on video.
It smacked of this
nightmare episode of
"lifestyles of
the rich and dead."
lots of louis vuitton
and lots of chanel, gucci.
She had some really nice
leather jackets.
I never saw her wear that.
Isn't that cute?
It's not just disturbing.
It's sick.
We just had so much fun.
It was just crazy.
Playing the piano,
and she'd be lying on the floor
falling asleep.
It was all that stuff.
Every holiday
was a balloon festival.
I mean, it was just crazy.
Hammond: It was a complete
and utter car crash.
It was in total poor taste.
Monjack: It seems bizarre,
doesn't it?
Why did he do that?
I don't know.
Narrator: Suspicions surrounding
simon's role in his wife's death
continue to fester.
But soon, his fortunes
suddenly shift.
Narrator:
Almost five months to the day
after brittany murphy perished,
her mother sharon yet again
dials 911.
Simon is still living
with his mother in law.
And we find sharon
trying to resuscitate him.
Simon's on the bed.
He's unresponsive.
He's a bloated 300 pounds.
She tries to attempt
compressions,
but it ain't working.
So within 10 minutes,
the paramedics arrive.
The house is in
complete disarray.
They move him to the floor.
They continue the cpr.
But they can't find a pulse.
At 9:45 p.M., simon monjack
is pronounced dead.
A mere short five months
after the death of his wife.
I had this awful premonition
something was going to happen.
I got a phone call from sharon.
She said he had died.
It was the most devastating
moment of my life.
The son that I loved,
cared for, brought up...
...Grew inside of me...
...Had... was no more.
Winter: We got a report
that simon passed away.
I responded and found it strange
to be in the same house
five months later.
Narrator: As winter
gathers information,
he discovers a strange
set of circumstances.
Winter: We recovered some more
prescription bottles
from the bedroom in his name
and additional names.
Ebner: Some of the prescriptions
were made out to some guy
named trevor williams.
And the others were
made out to...
get this... sharon monjack.
Winter: During the time I was
there, I interviewed sharon,
and she kept saying
that he died of a broken heart.
And when I asked why was her
prescriptions in that bedroom,
she advised me that they shared
the bed because they were
comforting each other for
the loss of brittany.
They comforted each other
by sleeping in the same bed.
Narrator: In subsequent
media appearances,
sharon denies
the sharon monjack bottles exist
or that she ever slept
in the same bed
as her former son in law.
Hammond: I think simon
and sharon murphy were
definitely sharing a bed.
Why would you move your
belongings from your own
bedroom, which you had for
many years into
brittany's husband's bedroom.
I believe that simon and sharon
was definitely doing the dirty.
Monjack: I can absolutely,
100% refute that
because I was
speaking to him daily,
and it wasn't like that.
He loved beautiful women,
young and beautiful women.
And every woman he'd been with
was young and beautiful.
So I rest my case.
Narrator: On July 22, 2010,
the coroner announces
his findings.
Simon's health
was not the best.
He probably abused
his body too much.
Ebner: The coroner concludes
that the cause of death
was acute pneumonia
and anemia,
just like brittany.
How is it that these
two individuals,
husband and wife,
one is 300 pounds,
the other is 115 pounds,
how is it that
they both succumbed
to the exact same ailments?
The media
is scratching their heads.
Woman: Very eerie because the
circumstances are so similar.
A surprising death.
Everyone is shocked about this.
So you have two people in one
house who die five months apart,
exactly the same causes.
I mean, how much more weird
could this be?
Narrator: The bizarre series
of deaths fuels the skepticism
of one man in particular.
Angelo bertolotti
has refused to accept
the cause of brittany's death
being accidental.
He suspects foul play.
Narrator:
To help him find the truth,
angelo seeks the help
of a renowned expert.
Wecht: I'm dr. Cyril h. Wecht.
I'm a forensic pathologist
and medical
and legal consultant.
The official results
in brittany murphy's case
would be quite legitimate
causes of death,
although rather rare
for somebody of that age,
especially someone
who is affluent
and not living in a tent
in the middle
of a park somewhere.
It's absolutely unfathomable
how this happened
to a hollywood star.
Mr. Bertolotti had a lot
of questions which he felt
were not being
properly addressed
by the los angeles county
medical examiner's office.
Angelo gets some extensive
research done on the cause
of brittany's death, pneumonia,
but especially anemia,
and he discovered that some
people who died of acute anemia,
one of the causes
of brittany's death,
were actually found to have died
of arsenic poisoning.
That's a pretty important fact
to keep in mind
for a medical examiner
while they perform an autopsy.
Angelo also discovers
that the I.A. Coroner's office
never tested brittany's hair
for toxic substances.
So he petitions
to get a sample of her hair
so he can send it
to an independent lab.
There's a lot of legal
squabbling back and forth,
but he finally gets it.
Wecht: He submitted it
to a laboratory in colorado,
and he obtained the results.
He sent that to me for
my perusal and analysis.
Narrator:
And what dr. Wecht discovers
is nothing short of stunning.
Wecht: The results from the
colorado toxicology laboratory
were very surprising...
off the chart.
Narrator: After the mysterious
death of brittany murphy,
her father, angelo bertolotti,
commissions an independent
examination.
He believes his daughter
fell victim to foul play.
Wecht: Mr. Bertolotti obtained
a strand of brittany's hair.
He submitted it
to a laboratory in colorado,
and he obtained the results.
He sent that to me for
my perusal and analysis.
The results were
very surprising,
and they speak for themselves.
They show 10 heavy metals
at significant levels,
that several instances are
well beyond the levels
permissible by
the world health organization.
I have never seen anything
like this and never seen it
reported in any other case.
Ebner: The effects of
heavy metals are dizziness,
sweating, cramps,
coughing, lethargy,
all of which brittany
had suffered from
leading up to her death.
Narrator: The results leave
wecht with vexing questions.
Wecht: We do not know
if these compounds
made their way into her system.
You're looking for things
which have been ingested
and which have then
grown out in the hair.
They were not reported
in the blood
by the los angeles county
medical examiner's office.
Garcia: These findings raise
a lot of questions.
What exactly was going on
in that house?
He suspected that his daughter
had indeed been poisoned.
Wecht: People had been poisoned,
usually with arsenic,
and you can find other cases
involving heavy metals
such as lead and bismuth
and cadmium and so on.
Narrator: Dr. Wecht
and angelo attempt to commission
further tests on
brittany's remains,
but they run into a problem.
Wecht: Mr. Bertolotti did seek
to have the body exhumed,
but the legal authority
was in the hands
of brittany murphy's mother,
and when she was asked about it,
she denied the right
to have it done.
Dimond: Sharon murphy says,
"absolutely not"
to exhuming her daughter's body,
and this strikes some people
as awfully odd.
Why wouldn't a mother want
to know the exact cause
of her daughter's death?
Narrator: Angelo believes
there's a simple explanation
for sharon's obfuscation.
I'm quite sure brittany
was poisoned, yeah.
Poisoned by her own mother, yes.
That's what I think.
So angelo actually believes
that sharon poisoned
her daughter
and then in turn poisoned simon
in order to cover her tracks.
Hammond:
Sharon's a cancer survivor.
The person more prone
to actually getting pneumonia
and kicking her clogs
would be sharon,
but she's still alive.
Why didn't sharon catch it?
Narrator: Angelo points to
brittany and simon's
plans for the future
as a possible motive.
Monjack: Simon loved new york.
From what simon was saying to
me, he wanted to move there.
But sharon was the third person
in the marriage,
and he wanted to move
without sharon.
Ebner: Brittany and simon
were going to start a new life,
perhaps have a child.
Sharon is about to be discarded.
Angelo became suspicious because
sharon is not the type
of person that would
take that lying down.
Narrator: But the matriarch
strenuously pushes back.
Ebner: Sharon denies all claims
that she may have had anything
to do with her daughter's death.
Instead, she turns it
on angelo and says,
"listen, this guy's just after
his daughter's money,
and that's it."
narrator: Sharon even pens
an open letter attacking
the hair testing
as woefully inadequate
and dismissing her ex-husband's
claims as fraudulent.
Years later, after exploring
several avenues,
angelo finds he can
no longer persist.
By 2017, angelo bertolotti,
"a", his own health
is failing him and, "b",
sharon's refusing to cooperate.
And he just decides to back off.
Narrator: Despite angelo's
retreat, to many,
brittany's death is still
an open question.
Wecht: I believe that
brittany murphy's death remains
a significant mystery,
and I regret very much
that it's not going
to be clarified
in any meaningful way
in the years ahead.
It's just too late now to deal
with the body.
It's undergone
extensive decomposition
and contamination from soil,
et cetera.
But I have seen the autopsy
on simon monjack,
and there's no question that,
in my opinion, he died
from natural diseases.
Narrator: Los angeles county,
however, rejects the notion
brittany was poisoned
and stands by its final report.
Winter: During the autopsy,
we did do tissue
and blood and urine.
We felt that was sufficient.
We didn't find any metals
in her system at all.
I'm 100% sure that
she wasn't murdered.
From the information
that we have received,
the case is closed.
Ebner: The question remains,
what really happened?
The death, in my mind,
may have been accidental,
but it sure as hell
could have been prevented.
And for that, I personally
hold simon monjack accountable.
But the fact is we have lost
a wonderful, wonderful talent
in brittany murphy.
May she rest in peace.
Monjack: She has an ability
and a grace
that only the very best of
actresses manage to bring forth.
She knew how to please
an audience.
She knew how to be
somebody else.
She had the abilities
to be one of the greats.
you upset the villagers,
they talk and they gossip
and they rumor
and they have blood
on their hands.
And I hope they wash them
with very hot water
because the way they treated
brittany murphy
when she was alive
was terrible.
hi. My name is brittany murphy,
and I go to
herbert hoover middle school.
Narrator: She was a unique
talent with unlimited potential.
Garcia: You could just tell that
she was going to be a star.
Narrator: But at the age of 30,
brittany murphy
mysteriously perishes.
32-year-old women
just don't drop dead at home.
This sort of makes everybody
go, "what?"
narrator: In this special
report, we reveal
the troubling dynamics...
Ebner: He cut her off from
the outside world,
controlled her mind.
Narrator:In the relationship
that came to define her...
The more this man talked,
the more suspicious he became
how about stories that you are
a svengali?
Svengali?
Yeah.
I should be so lucky.
narrator:Speak exclusively
with members of her family...
She's my daughter.
She was everything to me.
It was terrible,
unbelievably terrible.
Narrator:And reveal
the explosive accusation
that casts everything in doubt.
Garcia: He suspected
that his daughter
had indeed been poisoned.
What was going on
inside that house?
sharon: Brittany,
please come back!
Garcia: It's 8:00 a.M. On
a Sunday, December 20, 2009.
And this frantic call
comes into 911
from a house
in the hollywood hills.
Very calmly and professionally,
the 911 operator is asking
questions relevant
to the situation.
But the woman is absolutely
beside herself and frantic.
Garcia: It's clearly
an urgent matter.
It is clearly an emergency.
So the 911 operator
tells the mom to check
if anything is blocking
her daughter's mouth.
The husband of the woman who's
not breathing on the floor,
he's entered the picture.
He gets down on his knees,
and he starts administering cpr.
narrator: Within minutes,
paramedics arrive
at the site of the emergency,
a mansion
in the hollywood hills.
Ebner: They are met by sharon,
the mother of the woman
on the bathroom floor
and her son in law,
a man named simon monjack.
He's a 40-year-old
heavyset englishman.
They go inside.
The bathroom the bathroom
is cluttered.
It's full of cosmetics
and hair products.
And they see a famous
hollywood actress,
115-pound brittany murphy.
Narrator: The struggling woman
is a hollywood superstar
whose story begins
three decades earlier.
Dimond: Brittany murphy was born
on November 10, 1977.
Her parents were sharon murphy
and angelo bertolotti.
They had an interesting
connection, and they met under
sort of unusual circumstances.
Ebner: Angelo bertolotti,
he's new york city born and bred
and wound up in florida,
where he owned night clubs.
Angelo had a shady background.
He was from the mob.
He met sharon, and he hired her
to work in one of his clubs.
She was kind of attracted
to that lifestyle,
the fountains of cash
that ran through that business.
Narrator: The couple soon weds.
But angelo's flashy ways
quickly lose their luster.
Angelo was in and out of jail
quite a bit,
and so the marriage didn't last.
They divorced when brittany
was just 2 years old.
Bertolotti: My name is
angelo j. Bertolotti,
and my daughter
is brittany murphy.
Well, yeah, I was involved
in my business
and little with the marriage.
Sharon knew I was involved
in organized crime.
I did nine years in prison.
I got in a lot of trouble.
So in 1980, fed up,
sharon took brittany
and moved to edison, new jersey.
To support her and her daughter,
sharon is working
in advertising.
Narrator: As they settle
in to suburban life,
young brittany starts to show
a penchant for entertaining.
Man: Brittany, how are
you doing today, brittany?
Great. How are you?
Very good. You want a job
hosting a television show?
Sure.
By the time she's 9 years old,
she's pointing at the television
and saying, "look, mommy,
I want to be there,
I want to be on tv."
give us your name
and what school you go to.
hi. My name is
brittany murphy,
and I go to herbert hoover
middle school.
Bertolotti: She was
very talented, yeah.
Extremely talented.
A very precocious child.
I'll tell you what.
I'm gonna give you a shot,
and you get
to interview.
I'll have you interview
people over here.
Okay, sure.
Hi. Do you like
the fair here today?
Yeah.
What's your name?
Carissa.
Where are you from?
Edison.
Here's a young brittany, who is
just shining on this video.
You could just tell that
she was going to be a star.
Narrator: Soon enough,
brittany sights are set
far beyond new jersey.
She heads to hollywood
with her mother by her side.
Hammond: Sharon was pretty much
brittany's pillar.
They were more of a friendship
as opposed to
mother and daughter.
Ebner: If it wasn't for
the age difference,
you would almost
mistake them for sisters.
In fact, they considered
each other soul mates.
Hammond: As brittany murphy
got her first job,
she started subsidizing
her and her mother's living.
The relationship
turned more daughter-mother.
So brittany ended
to looking after her mother
as opposed to
the opposite way around.
Narrator: In 1995, brittany's
fortune changes dramatically.
Garcia: "clueless" was
a blockbuster of a movie.
It was basically about
young girls in los angeles,
and brittany played a girl
who was picked on
and she has this metamorphosis
in the movie.
In fact, so many people
thought that brittany murphy
upstaged the star,
alicia silverstone.
Hammond: "clueless" was
a huge moment for
brittany murphy in her career.
But she was still typecast
as the fat, plump brunette.
So over a period of time,
she got thin and went blonde,
and people took notice
and she started getting
bigger roles.
Other offers come
fast and furious...
"8 mile", "sin city."
she could play dumb.
She could play smart,
inquisitive, comedy.
Narrator: As the star's career
evolves, so does her love life.
She had a tendency
to date her leading men.
When she was on "8 mile",
she dated eminem.
She did a movie
with ashton kutcher,
and she ended up
dating ashton, too.
There was a really wonderful
friendship that bloomed
on the set of a film.
We were not a pair until
I would say
10 months or 11 months
after the making of the film.
But the relationships
really don't go anywhere.
She dates them
for just a few months,
and she doesn't
really find love.
Narrator: But in 2006,
she encounters a man
who will change
her life forever.
Ebner: Brittany reads a script
based on the novel
"the white hotel."
she loves what she reads,
and she makes it her mission
to meet the screenwriter,
simon monjack.
Monjack: I'm linda monjack.
I am the mother
of simon monjack.
When he was about 10 or 11,
we went to disney,
and he said, "I'm gonna
live here one day."
and I'm going to be
in the movies.
Simon was a writer
and a filmmaker and a cameraman.
He could find the soul in
someone through the camera lens.
That was one of his
amazing attributes.
Ebner: Simon made
a name for himself
as a creative force
behind george hickenlooper's
"factory girl."
it was a movie that was loosely
based on the life
of andy warhol's muse
edie sedgwick.
Garcia: Simon and brittany,
they'd already
known each other casually.
They really had
no firm connection, though,
until that 2006 movie project.
That's when things
seemed to click.
Ebner: Brittany and simon,
they met, they discuss business,
but it was not just business.
He's an english gentleman.
Eight years her senior,
big, burly, protective,
dignified, well-spoken
englishman.
Brittany is smitten.
She's met the man
of her dreams.
Monjack: And he phoned me
the very day.
He said, "I've met
this crazy girl, mom.
She's a crazy, crazy girl,
but I think I'm a bit
in love with her."
I said, "oh, simon,
you've only just met her."
he said,
"she is an amazing woman,
and I'm falling for her now."
narrator: Simon and brittany
start dating.
And within a year,
they get married.
It was done very quickly.
I didn't know until after
the marriage, but I know simon
was very impulsive,
and I accepted that.
This was simon's third marriage
and his first marriage
that he was really in love.
Ebner: Right off the bat,
sharon moves in with them.
Their home in the hills is
a $3.9 million home.
It used to be owned
by brittany spears.
Brittany and simon
were going to start a new life.
Narrator: Two years later,
brittany murphy is unconscious
on her bathroom floor.
When the paramedics arrive
at brittany's home,
they immediately take control
of the situation.
They check her vital signs,
and it doesn't look very good.
In fact, it looks pretty grim.
But then suddenly, they detect
a very weak pulse.
They rush her to the ambulance.
Brittany murphy's life
is hanging by a thread.
Narrator: 32 year old actress
brittany murphy
is fighting for her life.
While brittany's
in the ambulance,
the paramedics are working
so hard to keep her alive
until they can get her
to the hospital.
Behind the ambulance in a car
is simon and sharon.
It must have seemed like
the longest ride of their lives.
They hightail it right to
cedars-sinai hospital.
Inside, they're trying to do
everything to revive this woman.
Doctors are trying
to get her heart started.
Modern medicine
is working overtime.
And yet, it's hopeless,
it's too late.
And at 10:05 a.M.
At cedars-sinai hospital,
brittany murphy
is declared dead.
Garcia: And the doctor said
that he was sorry
but there was nothing
he could do.
Sharon is hit hard by the news
and just falls apart.
She has just lost
her only daughter.
Simon phoned me and just said,
"brittany has died."
he was totally
and utterly devastated.
And I just felt so ill.
I couldn't breathe.
It was the most awful moment
that this beautiful, wonderful,
talented, amazing individual
could die.
Bertolotti: I was in shock.
I got a phone call. I was
living in florida at the time.
Really knocked me out.
I couldn't believe it, really.
It was my daughter.
She was everything to me.
As soon as brittany's
passing leaks out to the media,
they swarm.
Hollywood has been stunned today
by the death of
a rising young star.
Kiedis: We did a little thing
together one day
for the mtv awards, and I was
stricken by her presence
and her beauty and her charm,
and now she's gone.
She was such a talent.
I really loved her.
Very sad, a lot of questions,
obviously, swirling around
what happened.
Yeah, well,
we'll find out.
Narrator: As the public mourns
the loss of a rising star,
los angeles authorities
are in search of answers.
Winter: My name is ed winter.
I was the assistant chief for
the I.A. County coroner's office
during the brittany murphy
investigation.
I oversee all the high profile
celebrity death investigations
in the county,
including michael jackson,
whitney houston.
We got a copy of the medical
records and the admissions blood
and then responded
to brittany's residence.
The media was all
outside the house.
They were asking cause of death.
Was there any trauma
to her body?
Was there any foul play?
And I advised them
that we would be doing a autopsy
and come out with the findings
as soon as possible.
We interviewed simon
within a couple hours
of brittany's death.
He told me she was sick,
she had flu symptoms.
He was a little strange
in his mannerisms.
He appeared to be under
the influence of something.
He wouldn't sit down.
He just kept pacing
back and forth
and was kind of stoic
and kind of rambling.
People will react
in many different ways,
from crying
or just being silent.
But he appeared confused.
Narrator: Then simon takes issue
with winter's plan of action.
Winter: He had said that he
did not want an autopsy,
which I explained to him,
"we do autopsies any time
there's a death
unless they can provide
a religious objection
or a court order,"
which they never did.
Dimond: Why was simon
so dead set against the autopsy.
She's a 32-year-old woman
who should be very healthy.
32-year-old women
just don't drop dead at home.
Narrator: Winter and police soon
canvass the house for evidence.
Winter: When we searched
the bedroom,
we found approximately
90 different
prescription pill bottles
in simon's name on his side.
And we recovered some more
prescription bottles
from brittany's nightstand.
There was a large quantity
of prescription pills.
There were so many different
kinds of heavy duty drugs,
things for anxiety or depression
and very habit forming
pain killers.
These were serious drugs,
not to be taken lightly.
Narrator: In the wake of these
discoveries, reports emerge
that run counter to brittany's
good girl persona.
Now the media starts reporting
about strange occurrences
that were happening
with brittany
in her professional life.
For instance,
appearing high on the set,
not remembering her lines.
Things that were totally
out of character
and had affected her career.
A friend of mine
who wrote the movie "spun",
which brittany murphy starred
in, said, "you know, she wasn't
using drugs on the set,
but I know for a fact
she was smoking crack with
simon monjack after the fact."
hammond: Her career was
literally drying up
by the moment.
As her career declined,
she's still thought
she could demand the same things
as she could
when she was at her peak
during "8 mile" days.
But people were actually
closing doors on her
because they couldn't
work with her anymore.
Ebner: Her manager
and her agency dumped her,
and all of a sudden,
the phone stopped ringing.
Brittany's career was
in the
her career had tanked.
She was only getting offers
for very small, low budget
b-movies... thrillers,
horror films,
stuff that she never dreamed
she would see herself doing.
Narrator: Many connect
brittany's diminished career
to a major change in her life.
Ebner: It was no small
coincidence that people started
to notice her erratic behavior
at the very time
that she got with simon monjack.
Dimond: Her friends were saying
that he would control
who she talked to.
There were certain managers
and agents
he didn't allow her
to speak to.
He was telling her
what roles to take.
If you wanted
to get to brittany murphy,
you had to go through
simon monjack.
Another professional in
hollywood put it more bluntly.
She called him satan.
Narrator: The swirling rumors
soon cast brittany's death
in new light.
People actually started
to suspect that simon monjack
might have had something
to do with brittany's death.
Narrator: As the suspicion
mounts about simon monjack's
role in brittany murphy's death,
his past draws new scrutiny.
So while everyone's waiting
for the autopsy results,
people are starting to
come forward with many
dark truths about simon monjack.
One of the people was british tv
presenter simone bienne.
Simone bienne was
simon jack's first wife.
They met in 2001.
They got married in vegas.
To win his first wife,
simon actually told her
that he owned several
damien hirst paintings
and he was an heir
to a steel mill.
He literally didn't have
any of those.
As soon as they got married,
he moved into her property,
he became a slob
literally overnight.
And then within a few weeks,
they separated.
Monjack: My family were
extremely wealthy,
but he didn't actually
have that money.
He fell in love with her.
Very quickly realized
that she was not for him.
And I can't say it was
a good thing, but it was him.
Ebner: So they got a divorce,
and they come to a settlement.
Simon was ordered
to pay $50,000 to simone.
Did he pay up?
No.
Narrator: Skepticism surrounds
even simon's
most prominent credit.
Simon sued the production
of the movie "factory girl",
claiming that they'd stolen
his script to make the movie.
Rather than fight him in court,
they just gave him
a screenwriting credit
to make him go away.
Simon had built
his whole persona
around that particular credit
for "factory girl",
but it's just completely bogus.
He was able to create a story
based on small bits of fact
and then sell it further.
Throughout his career,
he made a lot of enemies,
and people just really generally
didn't like him.
Monjack: I really do think
that they got simon wrong.
He was such
an amazing story teller
that he would tell
the most outlandish
and ludicrous stories.
He was using people
to write his next script.
That was one of his drawbacks,
is that he sometimes
did actually mistake fantasy
for real life.
Ebner: Simon monjack
was a charlatan,
a con man, and an extortionist.
He cut her off
from the outside world.
He kept her cloistered
in that home.
Plied her with drugs,
controlled her mind.
He's bad news.
People actually started
to suspect that he might have
had something to do
with brittany's death.
Hammond: Simon monjack wanted
a get rich quick scheme.
He was a sociopath.
It could be that he saw
the dollar signs with brittany,
and that's all he needed.
Narrator: Two months
after her death,
brittany's toxicology report
is completed.
The conclusion is unexpected.
The final results
of brittany's autopsy
was she died of pneumonia.
She was anemic
and had an overdose
of over the counter medications.
Narrator: According to winter,
all three of these conditions
contributed to her death.
Winter: Brittany had gotten sick
with flu-like symptoms
for approximately
a week to 10 days.
A 32-year-old can die
if they are sick
and are just fed
over-the-counter medications.
And I think that's exactly
what happened to brittany.
Narrator: Anemia, a fairly
common blood condition,
further compromised
to remove system.
Ebner: Where did this
anemia come from?
It was attributed by the coroner
to brittany having
some unusually heavy periods.
The anemia kind of blew away
all her defenses
and made her a risk
for pneumonia.
Narrator: Despite reports
of prescription
and illicit drug abuse,
many are surprised
that neither played a prominent
role in brittany's demise.
Winter: Brittany's death
could have been prevented,
in my opinion, had they taken
her to the doctor or a hospital
instead of just
feeding her cough medicine
and different
non-prescription medications.
The medications I think masked
what the real problem was
and enough that simon or sharon
either didn't recognize it
or just brushed it off.
Why didn't he get help
if she was sick?
Why didn't he take her
to a doctor?
Brittany would be alive today.
There's no question about it.
Narrator: Simon's lack of
decisive action invites
even more media scrutiny.
In an attempt to defend himself,
he appears in a nationally
televised interview
alongside sharon murphy.
He begins with his account
of brittany's death.
What happened that day
was brittany had laryngitis.
I have no idea what to do
with laryngitis.
I'm a rabbi,
not a doctor.
So I pray
instead of prescribe.
Dimond: Everyone is wondering
why he didn't
take her to a doctor.
Now he's referring to himself
as a rabbi.
Come on.
Narrator: Then host larry king
raises the issue
of brittany's autopsy.
King: You didn't want
an autopsy at first.
No, I didn't.
To us,
it was such a shock.
This pristine body that is curvy
in all the right places...
it's not like she was
in a car accident.
The skin like silk.
And how could I say
in front of her mother,
"cut her up."
I mean, it was
just unfathomable.
I mean, what kind of
insanity is that?
Dimond: You know, it's hard
to think about your loved one
dead, someone cutting
into their body,
but the way that simon
described brittany's body...
"her pristine body,
her curvy body,"
it was just kind of creepy.
The press seems to think
we should be androids.
The press seems to think
that we shouldn't feel.
The press doesn't
understand loss.
How about stories that
you are a svengali,
a controlling factor?
A svengali?
Yeah.
I should be so lucky.
the more this man talked,
the more bizarre his personality
became, the more
suspicious he became.
And sharon murphy strikes people
as a little odd.
What was going on
inside that house?
Narrator: Monjack's botched
prime time interview
fails to quell
the public's doubt.
Ebner: People were still
wondering what the heck was up
with this
simon monjack character.
He decided to try
and head it off at the pass,
and he actually invited
radar magazine
to come in
and tour "the death house."
simon is still living there.
Yeah, you're
the first people to ever see
the infamous bathroom.
You can see my wife had
a penchant for cosmetics.
Well, most of
the cosmetics are mine
'cause I ended up
having to buy them over
the years for
the hair and makeup.
He showed the "death room,"
which was quite tragic
and a bit terrible.
This is the little doggie couch
where she actually fell.
She found clara's
chaise lounge.
And she was put her on side
right here next to
the chaise lounge.
He's smoking a cigar
while they have him on video.
It smacked of this
nightmare episode of
"lifestyles of
the rich and dead."
lots of louis vuitton
and lots of chanel, gucci.
She had some really nice
leather jackets.
I never saw her wear that.
Isn't that cute?
It's not just disturbing.
It's sick.
We just had so much fun.
It was just crazy.
Playing the piano,
and she'd be lying on the floor
falling asleep.
It was all that stuff.
Every holiday
was a balloon festival.
I mean, it was just crazy.
Hammond: It was a complete
and utter car crash.
It was in total poor taste.
Monjack: It seems bizarre,
doesn't it?
Why did he do that?
I don't know.
Narrator: Suspicions surrounding
simon's role in his wife's death
continue to fester.
But soon, his fortunes
suddenly shift.
Narrator:
Almost five months to the day
after brittany murphy perished,
her mother sharon yet again
dials 911.
Simon is still living
with his mother in law.
And we find sharon
trying to resuscitate him.
Simon's on the bed.
He's unresponsive.
He's a bloated 300 pounds.
She tries to attempt
compressions,
but it ain't working.
So within 10 minutes,
the paramedics arrive.
The house is in
complete disarray.
They move him to the floor.
They continue the cpr.
But they can't find a pulse.
At 9:45 p.M., simon monjack
is pronounced dead.
A mere short five months
after the death of his wife.
I had this awful premonition
something was going to happen.
I got a phone call from sharon.
She said he had died.
It was the most devastating
moment of my life.
The son that I loved,
cared for, brought up...
...Grew inside of me...
...Had... was no more.
Winter: We got a report
that simon passed away.
I responded and found it strange
to be in the same house
five months later.
Narrator: As winter
gathers information,
he discovers a strange
set of circumstances.
Winter: We recovered some more
prescription bottles
from the bedroom in his name
and additional names.
Ebner: Some of the prescriptions
were made out to some guy
named trevor williams.
And the others were
made out to...
get this... sharon monjack.
Winter: During the time I was
there, I interviewed sharon,
and she kept saying
that he died of a broken heart.
And when I asked why was her
prescriptions in that bedroom,
she advised me that they shared
the bed because they were
comforting each other for
the loss of brittany.
They comforted each other
by sleeping in the same bed.
Narrator: In subsequent
media appearances,
sharon denies
the sharon monjack bottles exist
or that she ever slept
in the same bed
as her former son in law.
Hammond: I think simon
and sharon murphy were
definitely sharing a bed.
Why would you move your
belongings from your own
bedroom, which you had for
many years into
brittany's husband's bedroom.
I believe that simon and sharon
was definitely doing the dirty.
Monjack: I can absolutely,
100% refute that
because I was
speaking to him daily,
and it wasn't like that.
He loved beautiful women,
young and beautiful women.
And every woman he'd been with
was young and beautiful.
So I rest my case.
Narrator: On July 22, 2010,
the coroner announces
his findings.
Simon's health
was not the best.
He probably abused
his body too much.
Ebner: The coroner concludes
that the cause of death
was acute pneumonia
and anemia,
just like brittany.
How is it that these
two individuals,
husband and wife,
one is 300 pounds,
the other is 115 pounds,
how is it that
they both succumbed
to the exact same ailments?
The media
is scratching their heads.
Woman: Very eerie because the
circumstances are so similar.
A surprising death.
Everyone is shocked about this.
So you have two people in one
house who die five months apart,
exactly the same causes.
I mean, how much more weird
could this be?
Narrator: The bizarre series
of deaths fuels the skepticism
of one man in particular.
Angelo bertolotti
has refused to accept
the cause of brittany's death
being accidental.
He suspects foul play.
Narrator:
To help him find the truth,
angelo seeks the help
of a renowned expert.
Wecht: I'm dr. Cyril h. Wecht.
I'm a forensic pathologist
and medical
and legal consultant.
The official results
in brittany murphy's case
would be quite legitimate
causes of death,
although rather rare
for somebody of that age,
especially someone
who is affluent
and not living in a tent
in the middle
of a park somewhere.
It's absolutely unfathomable
how this happened
to a hollywood star.
Mr. Bertolotti had a lot
of questions which he felt
were not being
properly addressed
by the los angeles county
medical examiner's office.
Angelo gets some extensive
research done on the cause
of brittany's death, pneumonia,
but especially anemia,
and he discovered that some
people who died of acute anemia,
one of the causes
of brittany's death,
were actually found to have died
of arsenic poisoning.
That's a pretty important fact
to keep in mind
for a medical examiner
while they perform an autopsy.
Angelo also discovers
that the I.A. Coroner's office
never tested brittany's hair
for toxic substances.
So he petitions
to get a sample of her hair
so he can send it
to an independent lab.
There's a lot of legal
squabbling back and forth,
but he finally gets it.
Wecht: He submitted it
to a laboratory in colorado,
and he obtained the results.
He sent that to me for
my perusal and analysis.
Narrator:
And what dr. Wecht discovers
is nothing short of stunning.
Wecht: The results from the
colorado toxicology laboratory
were very surprising...
off the chart.
Narrator: After the mysterious
death of brittany murphy,
her father, angelo bertolotti,
commissions an independent
examination.
He believes his daughter
fell victim to foul play.
Wecht: Mr. Bertolotti obtained
a strand of brittany's hair.
He submitted it
to a laboratory in colorado,
and he obtained the results.
He sent that to me for
my perusal and analysis.
The results were
very surprising,
and they speak for themselves.
They show 10 heavy metals
at significant levels,
that several instances are
well beyond the levels
permissible by
the world health organization.
I have never seen anything
like this and never seen it
reported in any other case.
Ebner: The effects of
heavy metals are dizziness,
sweating, cramps,
coughing, lethargy,
all of which brittany
had suffered from
leading up to her death.
Narrator: The results leave
wecht with vexing questions.
Wecht: We do not know
if these compounds
made their way into her system.
You're looking for things
which have been ingested
and which have then
grown out in the hair.
They were not reported
in the blood
by the los angeles county
medical examiner's office.
Garcia: These findings raise
a lot of questions.
What exactly was going on
in that house?
He suspected that his daughter
had indeed been poisoned.
Wecht: People had been poisoned,
usually with arsenic,
and you can find other cases
involving heavy metals
such as lead and bismuth
and cadmium and so on.
Narrator: Dr. Wecht
and angelo attempt to commission
further tests on
brittany's remains,
but they run into a problem.
Wecht: Mr. Bertolotti did seek
to have the body exhumed,
but the legal authority
was in the hands
of brittany murphy's mother,
and when she was asked about it,
she denied the right
to have it done.
Dimond: Sharon murphy says,
"absolutely not"
to exhuming her daughter's body,
and this strikes some people
as awfully odd.
Why wouldn't a mother want
to know the exact cause
of her daughter's death?
Narrator: Angelo believes
there's a simple explanation
for sharon's obfuscation.
I'm quite sure brittany
was poisoned, yeah.
Poisoned by her own mother, yes.
That's what I think.
So angelo actually believes
that sharon poisoned
her daughter
and then in turn poisoned simon
in order to cover her tracks.
Hammond:
Sharon's a cancer survivor.
The person more prone
to actually getting pneumonia
and kicking her clogs
would be sharon,
but she's still alive.
Why didn't sharon catch it?
Narrator: Angelo points to
brittany and simon's
plans for the future
as a possible motive.
Monjack: Simon loved new york.
From what simon was saying to
me, he wanted to move there.
But sharon was the third person
in the marriage,
and he wanted to move
without sharon.
Ebner: Brittany and simon
were going to start a new life,
perhaps have a child.
Sharon is about to be discarded.
Angelo became suspicious because
sharon is not the type
of person that would
take that lying down.
Narrator: But the matriarch
strenuously pushes back.
Ebner: Sharon denies all claims
that she may have had anything
to do with her daughter's death.
Instead, she turns it
on angelo and says,
"listen, this guy's just after
his daughter's money,
and that's it."
narrator: Sharon even pens
an open letter attacking
the hair testing
as woefully inadequate
and dismissing her ex-husband's
claims as fraudulent.
Years later, after exploring
several avenues,
angelo finds he can
no longer persist.
By 2017, angelo bertolotti,
"a", his own health
is failing him and, "b",
sharon's refusing to cooperate.
And he just decides to back off.
Narrator: Despite angelo's
retreat, to many,
brittany's death is still
an open question.
Wecht: I believe that
brittany murphy's death remains
a significant mystery,
and I regret very much
that it's not going
to be clarified
in any meaningful way
in the years ahead.
It's just too late now to deal
with the body.
It's undergone
extensive decomposition
and contamination from soil,
et cetera.
But I have seen the autopsy
on simon monjack,
and there's no question that,
in my opinion, he died
from natural diseases.
Narrator: Los angeles county,
however, rejects the notion
brittany was poisoned
and stands by its final report.
Winter: During the autopsy,
we did do tissue
and blood and urine.
We felt that was sufficient.
We didn't find any metals
in her system at all.
I'm 100% sure that
she wasn't murdered.
From the information
that we have received,
the case is closed.
Ebner: The question remains,
what really happened?
The death, in my mind,
may have been accidental,
but it sure as hell
could have been prevented.
And for that, I personally
hold simon monjack accountable.
But the fact is we have lost
a wonderful, wonderful talent
in brittany murphy.
May she rest in peace.
Monjack: She has an ability
and a grace
that only the very best of
actresses manage to bring forth.
She knew how to please
an audience.
She knew how to be
somebody else.
She had the abilities
to be one of the greats.