INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Brittany Murphy’s Cause Of Death Could Be Reopened For Investigation, Says Coroner

By Pam Wright
Published on: 02:18 PST, Mar 26, 2016

Six years following her death, Brittany Murphy’s death case could be reopened, according to County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter after a new report was published on Friday, March 25.

For the case to be reopened, there are several conditions that must be met, Winter told Us Weekly.

“We would have to have direct evidence. In all honesty, it would take something like a confession. Something connecting somebody with it.”

According to Winter, there are currently no plans to reopen the case, but that could change if a reason to do so was presented.

“If the police wanted to conduct an investigation or if somebody came to us and said, ‘This is the following circumstances, did you guys find this or this?’ Then we would contact the law enforcement agency also and say, ‘the family or somebody came and said that somebody confessed to actually putting some sort of poison in her food.'”

Murphy died in December 2009 at age 32 from what was ruled as an “accidental death.” The official cause of death was listed as a combination of pneumonia, anemia, and multiple-drug intoxication.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the issue of whether there was foul play in the Clueless actress’ death came in November 2013, when Murphy’s father, Angelo Bertolotti, commissioned a lab to test Murphy’s hair samples. The report alleged that tests revealed the presence of heavy metals that are found in rat poison.

In an interview with Good Morning America at the time, Bertolotti revealed his suspicions.

“I have a feeling that there was a definite murder situation here. Yeah, it’s poison. Yes, yes, I know that.”

Winter said that while speculation is rampant, the findings are clear.

“I think that if she had gotten medical attention instead of just delaying it, that they’d taken her to a doctor, she’d probably still be alive as we speak today.”

Of note, Winter added, is that the lab findings were very different from the coroner’s report.

“One of the things that was found in the other private test was the fact that there were some heavy metals found in the test and those metals are attributed to people that dye their hair. And if you dye your hair you’re going to have heavy metals there. It was not at the level that would warrant reopening the case because Brittany did dye her hair.”

Fuel was added to conspiracy theories about Murphy’s death after her husband, Simon Monjack, died of similar circumstances just five months after her death.

It is unclear if Bertolotti is directly accusing Murphy’s mother, Sharon, who was living with the star and Monjack at the time, of any foul play, but it would seem so.

Sharon told the Hollywood Reporter in 2013 that the conspiracy theories of poisoning and murder were “madness.”

“I have chosen to stay out of the limelight since the tragic and sudden death of my wonderful, talented, loving daughter. I have no choice now but to come forward in the face of inexcusable efforts to smear my daughter’s memory by a man who may be her biological father, but was never a real father to her in her lifetime.”

Sharon’s former publicist Roger Neal said Brittany Murphy’s mother is unreachable.

“She’s just checked out. Her whole world fell apart. I don’t know how she did it. I felt so bad for her. She is [a] very strong person I don’t know how she kept from having a mental breakdown. I don’t know how she put two sentences together… I don’t think she ever had the proper time to grieve.”

[Photo by Danny Moloshok/AP Images]

Share this article: Brittany Murphy’s Cause Of Death Could Be Reopened For Investigation, Says Coroner
Brittany Murphy
More from Inquisitr