Michael Jackson’s alleged Doctor Feel Good stopped CPR on the stricken pop icon so he could collect bottles of drugs before dialing 911, according to a bombshell report today.
Alberto Alvarez, Jackson’s logistics director, gave the highly incriminating account about Dr. Conrad Murray to Los Angeles investigators on Aug. 31, according to The Associated Press. His statement and those from two other Jackson employees also obtained by the AP paint a grisly scene in Jackson’s bedroom.
The documents also detail an odd encounter with Murray after Jackson was declared dead at a nearby hospital. Murray insisted he needed to return to the mansion to get cream that Jackson had “so the world wouldn’t find out about it,” according to the statements, which provide no elaboration.
Jackson, 50, died June 25 at his rented LA mansion as he prepared for a string of comeback concerts in London. He was killed by an overdose of painkillers, sedatives and sleep medications, including the powerful anesthetic propofol.
Murray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Murray’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, rejected the notion his client tried to hide drugs. He also noted Alvarez was interviewed twice by police and gave different accounts of what happened in Jackson’s bedroom. During the first interview, Alvarez made no mention of being told to tidy away medicine vials.
“He didn’t say any of those things, then two months later, all of a sudden, the doc is throwing bottles into the bag,” Chernoff said. “Alvarez’s statement is inconsistent with his previous statement. We will deal with that at trial.”
Alvarez and the others who gave the statements, Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Amir Williams and driver/bodyguard Faheem Muhammad, could be key witnesses should Murray go to trial. Except for the brief appearances by the nanny and the children, Alvarez and Muhammad were the only others in the room with Murray as he tried to save Jackson before paramedics arrived.
Alvarez told cops that when he rushed into Jackson’s room, he saw the King of Pop in bed with his mouth and eyes wide open but with no signs of life.
Two of MJ’s three kids, Prince and Paris, reportedly happened into the room and began crying when they saw Murray and Alvarez frantically trying to save their dad.
Murray, 57, a cardiologist licensed in Nevada, California and Texas, has acknowledged briefly leaving Jackson’s bedside the day he died but maintained from the outset that nothing he gave the singer should have killed him. It wasn’t illegal for him to administer propofol, though whether he followed proper procedures while Jackson was under the influence is a key part of the case.
Alvarez, Muhammad and Williams are all represented by attorney Carl Douglas and gave their statements separately on Aug. 31 at the lawyer’s Beverly Hills office. None of the three has spoken publicly about the events of June 25.
Alvarez told police he arrived at Jackson’s home around 10:20 a.m. He was awaiting instructions for the day in a security trailer outside Jackson’s rented mansion when, at 12:17 p.m., his phone rang. It was Williams.
Williams told Alvarez that Murray had just called to say Jackson was in trouble. Alvarez rushed into the mansion and up the stairs to Jackson’s room, where he saw Murray standing at the pop star’s bedside, performing CPR with one hand, according to the statements.
Alvarez asked the doctor what had happened.
“He had a reaction, he had a bad reaction,” Murray replied, according to Alvarez’s statement.
Murray then grabbed a few vials with rubber tops and told Alvarez to put them in a bag, Alvarez told investigators. Alvarez picked up a plastic bag from the floor and Murray put the bottles inside, then Murray told Alvarez to put that plastic bag inside a brown canvas bag, according to the account.
Alvarez said Murray then told him to remove an IV bag from a stand and put it in a blue canvas bag. He did, and noticed the bag had a connector with a milky white substance in it. Alvarez didn’t say what happened to the bags, nor did he identify what was in the vials.
Two days after Jackson’s death, under several hours of questioning by police, Murray eventually directed them to a closet in Jackson’s bedroom. In it, they found propofol and other sedatives in a bag.
On the day Jackson died, Murray waited until the bags were filled before telling Alvarez to call 911, according to Alvarez’s statement.
“I need an ambulance as soon as possible,” Alvarez told a dispatcher. “We have a gentleman here that needs help and he’s not breathing.”
The dispatcher told Alvarez to put Jackson on the floor.
At that moment, Muhammad rushed into the room and began helping with chest compressions while Murray attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Murray told the men it was his first time performing CPR, Alvarez said, though Chernoff said Murray had administered CPR many times before.
Murray then placed a dark brown machine with wires onto Jackson’s fingers, Alvarez said. Police later said they found a pulse oximeter at Jackson’s home, a medical device that shows heart rate and the amount of oxygen in the blood.
By 12:27 p.m., paramedics arrived at the house. According to their report, Jackson was not breathing and had no pulse at 12:29 p.m. However, Murray stated he could feel a weak pulse in Jackson’s upper thigh area, Alvarez and Muhammad said.
According to the paramedic report, emergency responders tried two rounds of resuscitation attempts and were ready to discontinue treatment, but Murray said he would take responsibility and insisted resuscitation be continued in the ambulance.
At 1:07 p.m., the singer was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where doctors attempted a range of resuscitation techniques. Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m.
At the hospital, after the death had been called, Williams said he saw Murray crying.
Murray asked Williams if he or someone else could take him back to the mansion so he could pick up the cream, according to Williams’ statement.
Williams said he didn’t think it was a good idea for Murray to return to the house. He spoke to Muhammad and they agreed they wouldn’t take Murray back. They concocted a story that police had taken all the keys to the vehicles as part of the investigation.
Murray said he would take a cab, and Williams said he saw him leave the hospital through a side door.