Were Brittany Murphy And Her Husband Murdered?

Almost four years after Brittany Murphy was found dead in her Hollywood home of natural causes, new details are pointing to the fact that the Clueless star may have been murdered instead. The Examiner reports that toxicology testing was finally done on Murphy's hair, blood and tissue samples, and presented 10 heavy metals that were all present in quantities well above the World Health Organization's high exposure level.

Murphy was found dead by her mother on December 20, 2009, and though the coroner ruled that the death was due to natural causes, a later report of pneumonia complicated by anemia and multiple drug intake fueled rumors of an eating disorder and addiction to prescription pills. Murphy's husband Simon Monjack became the subject of scrutiny after he vehemently opposed the coroner's office doing a post-mortem on his wife's body. In a tragic Hollywood twist, Murphy's mother Sharon found Monjack dead in the same bathroom she had discovered her daughter, just five months later, on May 10, 2010. Monjack's death was also ruled natural causes, with a suspicion of cardiac arrest, as well as pneumonia and anemia like Murphy.

Murphy's father Angelo Bertolotti suspected that toxic mold had played a factor in the death of his daughter and Monjack, and in 2012 sued the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department to demand toxicology testing on Murphy's hair, blood and tissue samples. The Coroner's office admitted that no toxicology testing had been done when Murphy died. Bertolotti finally obtained the right to have independent testing conducted, his suspicions of toxicology findings were correct, though he was off the mark on toxic mold.

According to The Examiner, the heavy metals present in Murphy's system are consistent with those found in rat poisons. Both Murphy and Monjack exhibited symptoms of headaches, dizziness, gastrointestinal issues, and pneumonia—all of which are indicative of rat poisoning. Monjack and Murphy spent their last days in constant paranoia. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the couple was convinced that they were under helicopter surveillance, and their phones were all being tapped.