Brittany Murphy 'Murder Cover-Up': Riddle of Why Coroner Refused to Test the Actress' Hair for Poison Exposure — on 15-Year Anniversary of Beauty's Shock Death
Brittany Murphy's father went to the grave believing her death was a 'cover-up' and she was poisoned.
Dec. 9 2024, Published 6:45 p.m. ET
The outraged father of tragic actress Brittany Murphy demanded justice for his deceased daughter – and wanted her body to be exhumed to find the real reason she died.
RadarOnline.com can reveal ahead of the 15th anniversary of Murphy's death her late father, Angelo Bertolotti, was convinced his 32-year-old daughter died on December 20, 2009, after being poisoned.
Officially, the Los Angeles Coroner's Office determined the Clueless star succumbed to pneumonia.
However, five months after Murphy passed away in her Hollywood home, her 40-year-old husband, Simon Monjack, died in the same house – from the same official cause.
But a toxicology report financed by Bertolotti shockingly detected the presence of 10 heavy metals in his daughter's system, indicating she may have ingested rat poison either by accident or on purpose.
A family source said Bertolotti sent the report to the coroner, but he received no response.
Murphy died in her Hollywood home aged 32 on December 20, 2009.
Bertolotti then charged the government was hiding the truth – and stonewalling his efforts to get to the bottom of his daughter's death.
He previously said: "We have no cooperation from the Coroner's Office. They say the case is closed, but it's not closed. They're liars.
"There's a cover-up somewhere. Why should I let them get away with this?"
A toxicology report revealed traces of 10 heavy metals in Murphy's system at the time of her death.
Los Angeles law allows relatives to order an exhumation at their own expense – and the source insisted the actress' grieving father would do whatever was necessary to get to the truth.
The insider said: "Angelo has spent a fortune on the case so far and is waiting for the Coroner's Office to get involved."
But Bertolotti was said to be fully aware he would have to pay for Murphy's grave to be opened "if the coroner doesn't give him any satisfactory answers".
While Murphy's mother, Sharon Murphy, was said to not agree with her ex-husband's poison theory, Monjack's mother Linda wasn't convinced of the accuracy of the government's findings.
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Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, died five months after the actress and his cause of death was also ruled as pneumonia.
Linda previously said: "It's incredibly upsetting. It's very difficult to know how you deal with it anymore. Will we ever get any answers about Simon and Brittany? No one will help me and I just want to find out what happened.
"The toxicology test Angelo did – and its awful result – has spurred him on to want to do more. I'm not surprised at all he wants to exhume Brittany."
In the documentary Brittany Murphy: An ID Mystery, forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who was hired by Bertolotti before his death in 2019, said he was "perplexed" by the case.
Murphy's father slammed the Coroner's Office as 'liars' and claimed there was a 'cover-up'.
Wecht explained: "How could (Murphy) have developed such an advanced state of pneumonia and such an incredible state of iron deficiency?
"Where in the world was her mother, her husband? Why didn't she receive proper medical care? I was just puzzled by all of it. She had the financial means to see a doctor. And then she had prescriptions for strong opiates."
10 days before the Uptown Girls star's death she had been complaining of severe abdominal pain. An investigation by the L.A. County Coroner revealed she had picked up a bug called Staphylococcus aureus during a visit to Puerto Rico six weeks before she died.
While her husband and Sharon had also caught it and exhibited symptoms, Murphy seemed fine – at first.
But then she developed pneumonia and her health quickly deteriorated.
The coroner claimed it hit her extra hard because of her anemia, which resulted in heavy, painful periods which ultimately may have killed her.
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