by David Wayne
16. Her official medical reports have reportedly also disappeared.
17. Telephone records of Marilyn’s calls in the days preceding her death were apparently seized by the FBI and then “disappeared.”
18. Wiretaps and tapes of professional eavesdropping— conducted by the U.S. Justice Department and, independently, also by Organized Crime—at Marilyn’s home and also at Peter Lawford’s Santa Monica beach house (where she sometimes met with the Kennedys), are known to have been recorded but, alas, they too have “disappeared.”
* * *
Sergeant Jack Clemmons was on duty as Watch Commander at the West Los Angeles Division Headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department when he received a phone call from Marilyn Monroe’s doctor stating that she was dead. He noted the time in his logbook: 4:25 AM on Saturday night, technically Sunday morning. He told the doctor that he’d be right over.
En route to the home, he radioed for back-up, and then pulled into the driveway of Marilyn Monroe’s fashionable Brentwood home. He noted several other cars parked in the driveway as he parked his police unit. He was the first officer on the scene.
He knocked on the door and waited, hearing footsteps and whispering inside the house, which lasted for a full minute, before finally seeing the porch light turn on. The housekeeper finally opened the door and he entered the home. She led him to Marilyn’s bedroom where she lay dead upon the bed. A sheet was pulled up over her body, leaving only her head exposed. Marilyn’s physician, Dr. Engleberg, was seated in a chair near the bed. Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn’s psychiatrist, was also in the room, standing near the bed.
The doctors blurted out that Marilyn had committed suicide and, gesturing to an empty bottle of Nembutal on the nightstand, said that she had taken “all of those.” Sgt. Clemmons pulled down the sheet as the two doctors watched. The first thing that struck him as odd was the fact that the body was obviously bruised. He also noted that a telephone cord ran over one side of the bed and was underneath her. He then noticed that the body was perfectly straight in what is known as the “soldier’s position” (face down, arms at the sides, legs straight), and he knew from experience that it’s not a position that overdose victims die in—they end up in a contorted position due to the involuntary spasms caused by the overdose. It’s also usually very messy because OD victims typically vomit in the throes of death, as their body attempts to reject the semi-digested drugs.
Sgt. Clemmons immediately asked the doctors if the body had been moved. They answered that it had not. He then asked them if they had tried to revive her. Dr. Greenson stated flatly that they had not, that it was too late. But Sgt. Clemons considered their attitudes out of context with the situation; they were defensive and, uncharacteristically for doctors, wouldn’t volunteer any further information. Clemmons found their attitudes totally “off”,” especially of Dr. Greenson:
“He was cocky—almost challenging me to accuse him of so
mething. I kept thinking to myself, ‘What the hell’s wrong with this
fellow?’ Because it just didn’t fit the situation.”47
Sgt. Clemmons said he wanted to speak to the housekeeper and, walking over to the laundry room, he found Eunice Murray there, folding clothes, with the dryer running. He immediately thought it quite odd that she would be doing laundry at that hour of the night, actually almost 5:00 AM, especially while her employer lay dead in the other room. He also noted that the housekeeper had a very agitated and nervous demeanor, just as she had when she had finally answered the front door for him.
As the housekeeper nervously folded clothes, Sgt. Clemmons asked her at what point had she known that something was wrong. Mrs. Murray answered that it was about midnight that she had woken up to go to the bathroom and noticed that the light was still on in Marilyn’s room, as she could see light under the door. She said that she knocked on Marilyn’s door, but Marilyn didn’t answer. She tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside; so she called Dr. Greenson, who arrived about 12:30 AM. She stated that when Dr. Greenson arrived, again trying Marilyn’s door and getting no response, the Dr. went outside and looked through the bedroom window and could see Marilyn lying motionless on the bed, so he broke the window and then came through the window, unlocked the door and told her “We’ve lost her.”
Sgt. Clemmons found it very troubling that the body had been discovered at 12:30 AM, but no one had called the police until 4:25. Four hours is a long time to wait. Furthermore, the precise manner in which the housekeeper stated the events to Sgt. Clemmons made him even more suspicious, because it sounded too rehearsed.
He asked the housekeeper what she’d been doing all night. She answered that she realized that there’d be a lot to do and that a lot of people would coming over, so she called someone to repair the broken window.
What else?
She answered that then she collected all of her personal belongings from Marilyn’s home and gathered them in a basket.
It sounded extremely insufficient to Sgt. Clemmons. He then returned to the doctors and asked them the same question.
They responded that they hadn’t called the police immediately because they had to call Marilyn’s studio and get permission.
Sgt. Clemmons was astounded.
“Permission?”
They explained that, basically, that’s how it is in the movie business—they had to clear everything with her publicist.
“What did you do during those hours?”
They answered that “We were just talking.”48
“What were you talking about for four hours?”
The doctors didn’t have an answer for that one and responded inaudibly, simply shrugging their shoulders.49
Sgt. Clemmons knew that the doctors were protected by professional confidentiality and didn’t legally have to answer his questions. He also knew that their attitudes were absolutely bizarre for the situation and that things simply were not adding up.
He then pointed out to the two doctors that, although there was an empty bottle of pills, there was no glass or drink of any kind that she could have used to help her swallow all the pills. Stumped by that very cogent observation, the doctors then “helped” Sgt. Clemmons look around for a drinking glass ... none was found.
However, they did find that the water in Marilyn’s bathroom was completely shut off, making it an even more troublesome point.
Sgt. Clemmons then asked the doctors if Marilyn was in the habit of injecting drugs with a syringe. They answered that she always took her drugs orally.
Clemmons then backed them up and asked them again.
“How was the body discovered?”
Dr. Greenson related the same story about being called by the housekeeper and then breaking the bedroom window to find Marilyn dead in bed. He added that her hand was firmly gripping the telephone when he reached her and that he took the phone out of her hand. He said that Marilyn must have been trying to call for help.50
That conclusion immediately struck Sgt. Clemmons as yet another oddity. Why would the victim be calling for help on the telephone when she had her own housekeeper right down the hall, just a few feet away from her?
Sgt. Clemmons completed taking statements from the witnesses and concluded that he had not been told the truth. Why wasn’t there even a glass of water next to the neatly lined up pill bottles when the LAPD first arrived, and how come one was placed near them later on? The officers confirmed that it was definitely not there when they first arrived. That seems just a tad suspicious.
We know now that she actually died prior to the time police were told; at least six hours before the phone call was made to the police. When Marilyn’s corpse was picked up, the level of rigor mortis in the body was observed by experts and they then estimated the time of death at 9:30 to 11:30 PM ... so they waited over six hours to call the police? What was taking place during those six hours, and why?
We also know that the washing machine was running when the police arrived at sh
ortly after 4:30 AM. Isn’t that a rather odd time to being doing laundry? Too many irregularities, too much out of place. The story given to police was that she’d locked herself in her bedroom, but it was obvious that the story being told wasn’t true.
Along with the questionable responses by both the two doctors and Mrs. Murray, there were many other signs that showed the death of Marilyn Monroe to have been a “staged suicide.”
Classic Crime Scene Red
Flags
As the Chief of the Investigative Support Unit at The FBI Academy writes: “Red Flags:
Offenders who stage crime scenes usually make mistakes because they arrange the scene to resemble what they believe it should look like. In so doing, offenders experience a great deal of stress and do not have the time to fit all the pieces together logically. As a result, inconsistencies in forensic findings and in the overall ‘big picture’ of the crime scene will begin to appear. These inconsistencies can serve as the ‘red flags’ of staging, which serve to prevent investigations from becoming misguided.”
(Violent Crime Scene Analysis: Modus Operandi, Signature, and Staging, John E. Douglas, Ed.D., Special Agent & Chief, Investigative Support Unit FBI Academy & Corinne Munn, Honors Intern, FBI Academy, February 1992, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin)
Sgt. Jack Clemmons, Watch Commander at LAPD, was the first officer on the scene at Marilyn’s home. Experienced in homicides and overdoses, he knew what to look for, he knew what to ask. From the moment he entered the crime scene, Sgt. Clemmons immediately noted some dramatic inconsistencies. The whole scenario made no sense and Sgt. Clemmons knew it.
1. When he arrived and announced his presence, there was a delay in answering the door as he heard whispering voices behind the door. Normally, when police are called in such a case, they are eagerly awaited and immediately ushered inside. Sgt. Clemmons said that, after knocking, the door wasn’t answered until a “good minute or so later.”
2. There were too many cars parked in the driveway for the small number of people inside the home.
3. Sgt. Clemmons asked the two doctors if they had attempted to revive the deceased and they answered that no, they had not. They simply stated that “It was too late.”
4. The body had obviously been moved after death. A sheet had been pulled up over her head and the body was lying almost perfectly straight, face down in the pillow, head turned to one side, arms out, in what is known as the “soldier’s position.”
5. The body of the deceased had several fresh bruises.
6. Sgt. Clemmons immediately asked the two doctors present if the body had been moved and they responded that it had not—and appeared quite defensive about the questioning.
7. The corpse was far too neat and tidy for a drug overdose. Involuntary spasms and vomiting in the moments before death inevitably leave a very messy victim in a contorted position. Marilyn was lying perfectly straight in her bed as though she had been positioned there. Sgt. Clemmons later concluded:
“It was the most obviously staged
death scene I had ever seen. The
pill bottles on her bedside table
had been arranged in neat order
and the body was deliberately
positioned. It all looked too tidy.”
8. The bed was made with fresh linen, and it appeared that the sheets had just been changed. Clemmons observed that the whole death scene had obviously been sanitized.
9. Marilyn’s psychiatrist, Dr. Greenson, stated that she was found clutching the telephone, apparently trying to call for help during her last moments. Sgt. Clemmons found that very odd because, if she’d wanted help, she could have just yelled for the housekeeper who was right down the hall, just a few feet away. The fact that her hand was dramatically clutching for the telephone as though she’d wanted to call for help (as stated by her doctors) seemed staged, just like the rest of it.
10. Marilyn’s doctors told Sgt. Clem- mons that she had committed suicide by swallowing all the pills, gesturing to the empty pill container on her night- stand. But, as Clemmons quickly noted, how would she have swallowed all the pills they said she had when there was nothing in the room to swallow them with? There was no water glass or anything sufficient. So, how did she swallow them? When Clemmons pointed this out to her doctors, they were feeble, lost for answers, and helped Clemmons search the room for a drinking glass. None was found. To further confound anyone who had actually been trying to swallow something, their search revealed that the bathroom water had even been turned off for some remodeling work (there was nothing to drink from in the bathroom either).
Sgt. Clemmons, first officer on the scene, was certain that there was no glass or bottle with which Marilyn would have been able to swallow the pills. Later, and just in time for the police photos, an empty glass is present in Marilyn’s bedroom. Sgt. Clemmons was adamant, however, that it was not there initially; as he had searched.
11. When Sgt. Clemmons asked how they first knew that something was wrong, Eunice, the housekeeper answered that it was around midnight when she had gotten up to go the bathroom and she then noticed under Marilyn’s bedroom door that the light was still on and the door was locked.
In their initial story to police, the witnesses (including two doc- tors) placed Marilyn’s time of death at slightly before 12:30 AM (the time they said that they found her). But professionals are able to easily determine a clear time window of death by observing the specific stage of rigor mortis. Rigor (stiffening of the muscles) begins about three to four hours after death and is in full effect at about twelve hours. Mortician Guy Hock ett arrived at Marilyn’s home at 5:40 AM. He inspected the body, and, based on the level of rigor mortis, determined a time window for her death of 9:30 to 11:30 PM. That concurs with what we now know about exactly when her “handlers” were informed. We know that Mari lyn actually was dead prior to 10:00 PM. because shortly after 10:00, her lead publicist, Arthur Jacobs, was urgently interrupted, at a concert, with the message “Come with us right now please, Mr. Jacobs—Marilyn Monroe is dead.”
12. In their initial story (which all three witnesses later changed at the exact same time), the housekeeper and the two doctors stated that Marilyn had locked herself in her bedroom. So, to gain access, Dr. Greenson had gone outside and smashed the window open with a fireplace poker. Sgt. Clemmons noted, however, that If her doctor had only smashed through the window from the outside to get in, the shards of glass would have only fallen inside the room, not outside where he also saw some of the glass shards.
13. The housekeeper was doing the laundry at 4:30 AM while her employer lay dead in the bedroom. Both the washer and dryer were running and the housekeeper was folding clean laundry and nervously fidgeting with it as she did so. Several loads were being done, so he knew she’d been at it for hours:
“She had already washed one complete load and was doing a second. A third load of linens had been folded and put on a counter.”
14. The housekeeper related her story in a very even and precise manner as though her statements had been very rehearsed and prepared.
15. It was very disturbing that witnesses stated the body was found at 12:30 AM, but the police were not called until 4:25 AM. Moreover, the explanations of what transpired during that four-hour gap were feeble and vague. Finally, Sgt. Clemmons asked the doctors directly: “What were you doing for four hours?” “Talking,” they responded. “For four hours? What were you talking about for four hours?” They shook their heads, no verbal response.
As established above, the actual time of death was prior to 10:00 PM, making it actually a gap of at least six and a half hours that she was dead, before the police were finally called.
16. Why were the witnesses behaving so strangely, either nervously avoiding Sgt. Clemmons questions, or, in the case of one of her doctors, almost challenging him to doubt their story? Contrary to typical experience with physicians, who were readily informative and didn’t need to be probed, these two seemed to be holding back, relu
ctant to provide information; one doctor seemed despondent and uncommunicative; the other seemed very strange, defensive, and almost cocky, “almost challenging me to accuse him of something. I kept thinking to myself, ‘What the hell’s wrong with this fellow?’ Because it just didn’t fit the situation.”
17. An official police investigative unit arrived at the house at about 5:30 AM and re-interviewed the witnesses; it was led by Sgt. Robert Byron and overseen by Lieutenant Grover Armstrong, Chief of Detectives, West Los Angeles, LAPD. The unit leader agreed with Sgt. Clemmons’ suspicions.
Regarding the housekeeper, Sgt. Byron concluded:
“My feeling was that she had been told what to say. It had all been rehearsed beforehand. She had her story and that was it.”
Regarding the doctors, Sgt. Byron’s conclusion was:
“I didn’t feel they were telling the correct time or situation.”
18. Sgt. Clemmons kept investigating the case on his own for the rest of his life. He concluded:
“I knew at the time that the doc tors and Mrs. Murray were lying to me. Now I know that they must have moved the body and invented the locked room story. The District Attorney wouldn’t listen to me. I kept telling them that the death scene was arranged, and they said I was hallucinating.”