LOS ANGELES — A year ago, the world watched as Michael Jackson balanced on the edge of a precipice. Behind the once-proclaimed King of Pop was a bleak stretch of pain and artistic decline. Ahead lay a series of 50 London concerts, a high-rolling bid to reassert his musical brilliance and re-establish control of his life.
He was ready. The audience was ready. Then he was gone. Less than three weeks before his new life may have started on a stage filled with special effects and song, the old one ended in a cloud of drugs and unfulfilled dreams.
Questions immediately swirled about the circumstances of the singer’s death last June 25 from an overdose of sedatives. In the year since, a fuller picture of his last day has emerged. What follows is a comprehensive reconstruction of those final 24 hours by The Associated Press.
Exactly what happened during that time may never be known, as the only person with him was his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who administered a series of drugs to help his patient sleep. Murray is due to stand trial later this year on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death.
But witness accounts and court documents agree: Jackson’s final day started off like many others.
Last meal, and a prayer, with his children
Early in the afternoon of June 24 Michael Jackson came down the stairs of his rented mansion and sat with his kids for what would be their last meal together.
He had a rehearsal later that night so he wanted to eat something light but sustaining. His personal chef, Kai Chase, prepared seared ahi tuna with an organic salad and a glass of carrot and orange juice.
“He smiled and put his hands together for a prayer,” Chase said. “He said, ‘Thank you, God bless you.’ ”
The singer, Chase recalled, looked well, seemed energized and was in a good mood.
A final rehearsal
Shortly before 7 p.m., Jackson left his eight-bedroom mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills, an exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood sandwiched between Bel-Air and Beverly Hills.
His driver took him downtown to the Staples Center, where Jackson and his team of musicians and dancers were in final rehearsals before heading to London.
Several people recalled Jackson being in good shape that night.
“He was completely enthused,” said Dorian Holley, Jackson’s longtime vocal director and a singer for the upcoming “This Is It” shows. “It was hard to discern any difference between his energy and his physicality between then and his earlier days.”
Jackson went through several classic numbers, including “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” ‘’Billie Jean,” ‘’Smooth Criminal,” and “She’s Out of My Life.”
Later that night, Jackson and his dancers performed “Thriller” on stage in full costume for the first time.
“His face said it all, he loved it,” said Kriyss Grant, one of the dancers Jackson picked for the show.
The rehearsal ended about midnight with a performance of “Earth Song.” The singer hugged his dancers, thanked the crew and wished them a good night. “God bless you,” Patterson and Grant recalled him saying.
Jackson calls in his doctor about fatigue
Jackson returned to Carolwood Drive, stopping briefly at its metal gate to greet a small group of fans who had gathered outside his home.
As they pulled into the driveway, the bodyguard Muhammad noticed Dr. Murray’s car parked outside the home, just as it had been many nights previously.
Jackson’s security personnel escorted him into the house and to the foot of the stairs. No one, except for Murray and Jackson’s children, was allowed upstairs.
Soon after Jackson arrived home, he started complaining of fatigue and that he needed sleep.
Murray, according to a police affidavit, was concerned Jackson was addicted to propofol, a powerful anesthetic normally used only in medical settings with special equipment on hand. He told police he was trying to wean Jackson from propofol and had not given him the drug for two nights.
At around 1:30 a.m. June 25, he again tried this approach, giving Jackson a 10-milligram Valium tablet. The sedative had no immediate effect and about a half hour later, the doctor gave 2 milligrams of lorazepam, another medication from the same family as Valium, administered through a saline drip.
When Jackson remained awake, Murray administered a 2-milligram dose of midazolam, another sedative, at 3 a.m., then another 2 milligrams of lorazepam at 5 a.m.
By 7:30 a.m., Jackson remained awake. Murray told police he injected another 2 milligrams of midazolam into Jackson’s drip.
Still, Jackson could not sleep, laying restlessly on the white sheets of his renaissance-style double bed with a curlicued headboard.
Doctor says he gave into demands for ‘milk’
After experiencing a sleepless night, Murray said Jackson made repeated demands for propofol, a white liquid drug he sometimes would refer to as his “milk.” Around 10:40 a.m. Thursday, Murray said he gave in to Jackson’s demands and pushed 25 milligrams of the substance into Jackson’s drip.
The chronology comes from a June 27 police interview with Murray, though the doctor’s lawyer, Ed Chernoff, has contested investigators’ interpretation of events. Chernoff declined to comment for this story.
Murray remained with the sedated singer for about 10 minutes, then left for the bathroom, the affidavit stated. Less than two minutes later, Murray returned — and found Jackson not breathing.
Singer found not breathing
Phone logs show Murray made at least three calls between 11:18 and 11:51 a.m. — to his Las Vegas clinic, a patient, and a friend.
When Murray discovered Jackson was not breathing, he called the personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, and at 12:13 p.m. left a message saying, “Call me right away, call me right away,” according to a statement obtained by the Associated Press. Williams called back and Murray said: “Get here right away, Mr. Jackson had a bad reaction. He had a bad reaction.”
Williams called Jackson’s bodyguard, Faheen Muhammad, then Jackson’s logistics director, Alberto Alvarez, who was located in a security trailer outside the house. Alvarez told investigators he rushed upstairs and entered a bedroom to find the singer lying on a bed with his arms outstretched and his eyes and mouth open.
At his side, Murray was administering CPR with one hand.
“Alberto, Alberto, come quickly,” Murray said, according to the statement. “He had a reaction, he had a bad reaction.”
Two of Jackson’s children, Prince and Paris, came in the room, crying as they saw Murray trying to save their father. They were quickly escorted outside.
Alvarez told investigators that Murray asked him to pick up a few vials with rubber tops and put them in a bag. It was only after these bottles had been cleared that Murray told Alvarez to call 911.
“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.”
They put Jackson on the floor, then Muhammad rushed into the room and began helping with chest compressions while Murray attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Paramedics rush to the mansion
By 12:27 p.m., paramedics had arrived. They later wrote 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. No one else felt it.
A paramedic report stated that 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.
Jackson declared dead
The star was taken the short distance to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center at 1:07 p.m., when doctors tried a range of resuscitation techniques, including the insertion of a balloon pump designed to move blood around his body.
Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m.
After the death was called, Murray started crying, Williams told investigators.
He told the Jackson children that their father had passed away, then asked to return to the house.
“Is there any way I can go home, or be taken to the house,” the doctor said, according to Alvarez’s statement. “I want to get my car, and I’m hungry.”
Williams said he didn’t think it was a good idea for Murray to return to the house. He spoke to Muhammad and they concocted a story that police had taken all the keys to the vehicles.
Murray indicated he would take a cab, and Williams said he saw him leave the hospital through a side door.
Williams told Muhammad to call security at the home and make sure no one got into the house.
“Lock it down,” Williams said.
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