Famed King Coroner DR. THOMAS A. NOGUCHI looks at the many unanswered questions surrounding the death of MARILYN MONROE.
In his book "Coroner", Noguchi revealed that he used then state of the art forensics to declare Monroe’s death a suicide but he was still nagged by the persistent rumors that she was killed to prevent her from destroying then Attorney General ROBERT KENNEDY’s political career.
When Marilyn’s movie career was sinking after the failure of “The Misfits” and “Let's Make Love” Noguchi wrote, “She began taking so many tranquilizers that her psychiatrists became alarmed. The only bright spot was Robert Kennedy who had been playing close attention to her…but when she couldn’t even reach him on the telephone” things got worse.
On the day of her death after asking her housekeeper for oxygen and happily chatting with former husband Joe DiMaggio’s son, she received a phone call from Peter Lawford, inviting her to dinner. MM declined adding, “Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to the President. Say goodbye to yourself because you’ve been a good guy.” She then hung up.
Within hours, Marilyn was found lying dead, in a poignant image flashed around the world.
At the time Noguchi was a new hire in the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office, years away from becoming the Chief.
During the autopsy, questions began to burrow deep into Noguchi’s mind as he watched the grim proceedings.
If Marilyn had committed suicide by ingesting mass quantities of pills then why was her stomach empty?
If she had taken Nembutals (a tranquilizer) the yellow dye should have been found on the linings of her throat, esophagus and stomach. There was no yellow stain present.
There was no needle mark on Marilyn’s arm despite testimony to the police that her psychiatrist had given her an injection the day before.
Noguchi wrote that he pointed out to the Assistant DAs that “Marilyn had been a heavy user of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate for years. Her stomach …familiar with these pills …quickly ingested and “dumped” (the pills) into her intestinal tract.”
As for the absence of a needle mark, the injection was made by a fine precision instrument and would have healed within hours, becoming invisible.
As to the missing yellow dye from the Nembutal, Noguchi pointed out that the drug was manufactured with “a capsule whose color does not run when swallowed.”
While Monroe’s death was officially ruled a suicide, Noguchi wrote in his book, he was troubled that secret FBI files were sealed immediately after Monroe’s death.
Stranger still, John Miner of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, had listened to the secret audio recordings made by Marilyn’s psychiatrist of their sessions. He testified that based on what he heard as well as a private interview with the shrink, he was convinced Marilyn had not committed suicide despite two previous failed attempts.
If it was murder why were the only entrances to Marilyn’s room — both a door and a window – – locked from the inside?
“Until classified records are made public, controversy will continue to swirl around Marilyn’s death,” Noguchi wrote.
