LAPD, Feds Are Investigating Matthew Perry's Death

They want to know where the actor got the ketamine that killed him
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2024 5:27 PM CDT
LAPD, Feds Are Investigating Matthew Perry's Death
Matthew Perry poses for a portrait on Feb. 17, 2015 in New York.   (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision/AP, File)

The Los Angeles Police Department, assisted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Postal Service, is trying to find out where Matthew Perry got the ketamine that killed him. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that the investigation has been going on for months and authorities have already interviewed "some key people in Hollywood" with a history of drug abuse. LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division Capt. Scot Williams confirmed the investigation to the Los Angeles Times.

The 54-year-old Friends star was found dead in the pool at his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28. An autopsy found that he died of "the acute effects of ketamine," with drowning among the contributing factors. A coroner said Perry had been using the anesthetic as part of ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, NBC News reports. His last infusion, however, was around 10 days before his death—and since the drug is metabolized within hours, the ketamine found in his system apparently came from a different source. The coroner said the level of the drug in Perry's body was around the same level used for general anesthesia during surgery. (More Matthew Perry stories.)

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