LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office completed their autopsy of Michael Jackson on Friday, but they have yet to determine what killed the music legend.
“There was no indication of any external trauma or any indication of foul play on the body of Mr. Jackson,” Craig Harvey, operations chief for the Los Angeles County Coroner, revealed to reporters after the three-hour autopsy.
Harvey said officials are still awaiting further toxicology results before determining the singer’s exact cause of death. Those results are not expected back for at least another four to six weeks.
There has been much speculation about the role prescription drugs may have played in Jackson’s death. Harvey confirmed that the pop icon had been taking prescription medication, but refused comment when asked what role they may have played in Jackson dying.
Speculation into what may have caused Jackson’s death began quickly Thursday after the 50-year-old superstar was pronounced dead from an apparent cardiac arrest. Brian Oxman, a former Jackson family attorney and friend, hinted to reporters that prescription drugs may have played a role in Jackson’s death. He claimed that the pop star used the drugs to fight pain suffered as a result of a broken leg in a stage fall, as well as from a broken vertebrae in his back.
“I said one day, we’re going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson,” Oxman said on Friday’s “Today” show. “The result was, I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don’t know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are.”
Jackson’s longtime friend, singer Liza Minnelli, also hinted at more to come while appearing on Friday’s “Early Show” on CBS.
“I’m sure when the autopsy comes, all hell’s going to break loose,” she said. “So thank God we’re celebrating him now.”
The singer’s father, Joe Jackson, told People that the iconic entertainment family is digging deep in search of answers.
“We’re trying to find out that information,” he said of circulating reports tying his son’s death to prescription drugs. “When we find it out, we’ll know.”
“There’s a lot to be told, though, I’ll tell you that right now,” added the family patriarch. “The truth is still to be told.”
