The Murder of Marilyn Monroe (33 page)

Description of Deceased: Female Caucasian, age 36, height 5.4, weight 115 pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes, and slender, medium build.

Occupation: Actress, Probable cause of death: overdose of Nembutal, body discovered 8/5/62 at 3:25 a.m. Taken to County Morgue—from there to Westwood Mortuary. Report made by Sgt. R.E. Byron, #2730, W. LA Detective Division. Next of kin: Gladys Baker (Mother).

Coroner’s Office notified. The body was removed from premises by Westwood Village Mortuary.

(8/5/62 11 a.m. WLA hf—J.R. Brukles 5829)

L
OS
A
NGELES
P
OLICE
D
EPARTMENT

FOLLOW-UP REPORT

Report # 62-509 463

Type Crime: DEATH REPORT

Date and Time Occurred: 8-4/5-62 8P/3:35A

Date and Time of this Report: 8-6-62 4:15P

Location of Occurrence: 12305 Fifth Helena Drive

Victim’s Name: MONROE, Marilyn

Upon re-interviewing both Dr. Ralph R. Greenson (Wit #1) and Dr. Hyman Engelberg (Wit #2) they both agree to the following time sequence of their actions.

Dr. Greenson received a phone call from Mrs. Murray (reporting person) at 3:30A, 8-5-62 stating that she was unable to get into Miss Monroe’s bedroom and the light was on. He told her to pound on the door and look in the window and call him back. At 3:35A, Mrs. Murray called back and stated Miss Monroe was laying on the bed with the phone in her hand and looked strange. Dr. Greenson was dressed by this time, left for deceased residence which is about one mile away. He also told Mrs. Murray to call Dr. Engelberg.

Dr. Greenson arrived at deceased house at about 3:40A. He broke the window pane and entered through the window and removed the phone from her hand.

Rigor Mortis had set in. At 3:50A, Dr. Engelberg arrived and pronounced Miss Monroe dead. The two doctors talked for a few moments. They both believe that it was about 4A when Dr. Engelberg called the Police Department.

A check with the Complaint Board and WLA Desk, indicates that the call was received at 4:25 a.m. Miss Monroe’s phone, GR 61890 has been checked and no toll calls were made during the hours of this occurrence. Phone number 472-4830 is being checked at the present time.

R
E
-I
NTERVIEW
OF
P
ERSONS
K
NOWN
T
O
M
ARILYN
M
ONROE

August 6, 1962

G.H. ARMSTRONG, COMMANDER, WEST LA DETECTIVE DIVISION

Date and Time Reported: 8-10-62 8:30A

The following is a resume of the interview conducted in an effort to obtain the times of various phone calls received by Miss Monroe on the evening of her death. All of the below times are estimations of the persons interviewed. None are able to state definite times as none checked the time of these calls.

M
ILTON
R
UDIN

Mr. Rudin stated that on the evening of 8-4-62 his exchange received a call at 8:25P and that this call was relayed to him at 8:30P. The call was for him to call Milton Ebbins. At about 8:45P he called Mr. Ebbins who told him that he had received a call from Peter Lawford stating that Mr. Lawford had called Marilyn Monroe at her home and that while Mr. Lawford was talking to her, her voice seemed to “fade out” and when he attempted to call her back, the line was busy. Mr. Ebbins requested that Mr. Rudin call Miss Monroe and determine if everything was alright, or attempt to reach her doctor. At about 9P, Mr. Rudin called Miss Monroe and the phone was answered by Mrs. Murray. He inquired of her as to the physical well being of Miss Monroe and was assured by Mrs. Murray that Miss Monroe was alright. Believing that Miss Monroe was suffering from one of her despondent moments, Mr. Rudin dismissed the possibility of anything further being wrong.

M
RS
. E
UNICE
M
URRAY

Mrs. Murray stated that she had worked for Marilyn Monroe since November, 1961, that on the evening of 8-4-62 Miss Monroe had received a collect call from a Joe DiMaggio, Jr. at about 7:30P. Mrs. Murray said that at the time of this call coming in, Miss Monroe was in bed and possibly had been asleep. She took the call and after talking to Joe DiMaggio, Jr., she then made a call to Dr. Greenson and Mrs. Murray overheard her say, “Joe Jr. is not getting married, I’m so happy about this.” Mrs. Murray states that from the tone of Miss Monroe’s voice, she believed her to be in very good spirits. At about 9P, Mrs. Murray received a call from Mr. Rudin who inquired about Miss Monroe. Mr. Rudin did not talk to Miss Monroe. Mrs. Murray states that these are the only phone calls that she recalls receiving on this date.

Note:
It is officers’ opinion that Mrs. Murray was vague and possibly evasive in answering questions pertaining to the activities of Miss Monroe during this time. It is not known whether this is, or is not intentional. During the interrogation of Joe DiMaggio, Jr., he indicated he had made three phone calls to the Monroe home, only one of which Mrs. Murray mentioned.

JOE DIMAGGIO
—Miramar Hotel, Room 1035, Santa Monica Mr. DiMaggio was informed of the rumor which quoted him as saying that he would not invite Mr. Lawford to the funeral services because he could have saved Marilyn’s life and didn’t. Mr. DiMaggio denied this, stating that he had not talked to any member of the press, nor had he said such a thing to anyone who might have repeated it to the press. He stated that the decision to limit the number of people was a mutual agreement, decided upon in order to keep from hurting the feelings of many of Marilyn’s friends who might be accidentally overlooked.

JOE DIMAGGIO, JR
.—Miramar Hotel, Room 1035, Santa Monica Joe DiMaggio, Jr. was in his father’s suite and interviewed immediately after the above interview. He stated that he had placed three collect calls to Miss Monroe on 8-4-62 and that the first call was about 2P. He could overhear the operator talk to Mrs. Murray who informed the operator that Miss Monroe was not in. The second call was placed at approximately 4:30P and again was answered by Mrs. Murray, and again he was unable to contact Miss Monroe. The third call was placed at approximately 7P and on this occasion Mrs. Murray stated that she would see if Miss Monroe was available and in a few moments Miss Monroe came on the phone and he held a short conversation with her. During the conversation, he told Miss Monroe that he was not going to get married. The time of the last call is estimated to be 7P, as he states it was during the 6th or 7th innings of the Angels-Orioles baseball game in Baltimore.

P
ETER
L
AWFORD

An attempt was made to contact Mr. Lawford, but officers were informed by his secretary that Mr. Lawford had taken an airplane at 1P, 8-8-62. It is unknown at this time the exact destination, however his secretary stated that she did expect to hear from him and that she would request that he contact this Department at his earliest convenience.

R.E. Byron #2730

W.LA Detectives

P
OLICE
R
EPORTS
on M
ARILYN
M
ONROE
D
EATH

8-5-62

L. Selby, OIC, Homicide Special Sec., R.H.D.

Date of Report: 8-27-74

At the request of Commander McCauley, an attempt was made to determine the number and type of police reports taken by this Department in connection with Marilyn Monroe’s death which occurred in W.LA Div. on August 5, 1962. Commander McCauley also requested we determine if any of these reports were still available at this time.

In this regard, Sgt. Sturgeon, O.I.C., R. & I. Div., was contacted and requested to make a search of R. & I. files in an attempt to locate any reports we may have. He stated he could locate no records pertaining to the 1962 death of Miss Monroe. He further stated that all original crime reports that are controlled by R. & I. Div. are destroyed after a 10-year retention period. All reports, file cards, and DR blotters are included in the destruction.

Note:
Attached is a copy of correspondence dated Sept. 4, 1973, to Assistant Chief D.F. Gates from Assistant Chief D.H. Speck pertaining to the “retention and destruction of crime reports.”

The files at R.H.D. were checked for any records of the death of Miss Monroe. This division has no such records.

Investigators contacted W.LA Div. and were informed that they had no crime reports in their files pertaining to Miss Monroe’s death. It was further determined from present W.LA investigators that the original W.LA detective who handled the case was Sgt. R.E. Byron, now retired.

Mr. Byron was contacted . . . He stated he was called to the scene of Miss Monroe’s death. Lieuts. Gregoire and Armstrong also responded. Byron stated he completed a death report and believes that he classified it as “accidental.” Byron believes that he subsequently made a follow-up report to the original death report but is not sure how that was classified.

Byron does not have copies of any of these reports nor does he know of any existing copies.

C
ONFIDENTIAL

Employees Reporting: LA Murray 6692 RHD

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