B.B. King Died Of Alzheimer’s Disease, Not Poisoning As His Family Feared

Blues legend B.B. King was not poisoned as two of his daughters alleged, but instead, died of Alzheimer’s Disease and other natural causes, Rolling Stone is reporting.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, B.B. King died May 14 at the age of 89. Not long after his death, two of his daughters – Patty King and Karen Williams – alleged in court documents that King’s manager, LaVerne Torey, and his assistant, Myron Johnson, poisoned him.

“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances. I believe my father was murdered.”

The two employees’ lawyer, E. Brent Bryson, would later claim that King’s daughters were upset because King had left them very little money – $5,000 each, according to The New York Daily News – and had put the rest of his estate into a college fund.

“B.B. did not have a very high formal education, and he wanted to have his lineage go to college, so he set up a trust that would pay for college and other expenses.”

Clark County coroner John Fudenberg, who conducted King’s autopsy, determined that King’s principal cause of death was Alzheimer’s Disease, according to Yahoo News. Other “contributing factors” included diabetes – the blues legend had long been outspoken about his battles with the disease – as well as congestive heart failure, coronary artery atherosclerosis, and a host of other factors. The coroner found no evidence that B.B. King was poisoned.

“At this point we can say with confidence that Mr. King died of natural causes. Our condolences go out to the family and many friends of Mr. King, and we hope this determination brings them some measure of closure.”

Bryson issued a statement in response to the coroner’s findings.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. King’s body had to be subjected to a needless autopsy based upon fictional assertions. As expected, the autopsy report confirms that Mr. King died as a result of natural causes, and not as the result of poisoning or other wrongful conduct by Louise LaVerne Toney, Myron Johnson or anyone else. Both Ms. Toney and Mr. Johnson are happy that the spurious and disparaging allegations made by certain of Mr. King’s children against them, have been dispelled. Perhaps we can now focus on the body of musical work Mr. King left the world and stop the ‘witch hunt’ so that Mr. King may now finally rest in peace.”

Whether or not the coroner’s findings will satisfy B.B. King’s daughters remains to be seen; as of this post, neither of them has commented on the autopsy results.

[Image courtesy of: Getty Images/Larry Busacca]