EXCLUSIVE: Was Marilyn Monroe Murdered? Fresh Details Emerge About Hollywood Bombshell's Death 63 Years Later – And How a Detective Said It Looked Like a 'Staged Scene'
New details emerge 63 years later as a detective claims Marilyn Monroe's death scene appeared staged.
Aug. 2 2025, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
She was the woman who knew too much – which is why some believe blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe didn’t die of an apparent overdose of barbiturates on Aug. 4, 1962, but rather a deliberate act of malice: murder.
Monroe’s housekeeper, Eunice Murray, found the Hollywood goddess' lifeless body shortly after 1 a.m. on Aug. 5. Once the police arrived (four hours later, because Murray had to wait to get the okay from 20th Century Fox, she later told authorities), the investigation began as the paparazzi snapped away outside, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
While the coroner on the scene declared Marilyn's death was due to an overdose of "some drug," others strongly suspected foul play, RadarOnline.com can also reveal, after reading excerpts from the new true crime thriller The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, by James Patterson and Imogen Edwards-Jones.
Was She Murdered?
Monroe's death was ruled a suicide, but not everyone is convinced.
Homicide detective Jack Clemmons believed he had proof the star was murdered – calling it "the most obviously staged death scene I had ever seen."
John Miner, who headed the now-shuttered sex section in the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office at the time, said Monroe was administered an enema containing the lethal combination of Nembutal and the sedative chloral hydrate. And Murray later revealed, shortly before she discovered Monroe's naked, lifeless body: "Bobby Kennedy was there."
Bobby, as well as his brother, President John F. Kennedy, were both romantically linked to Monroe.
Recordings from a secret surveillance microphone that had been hidden in Monroe's house revealed a meeting with Bobby did indeed take place, Patterson wrote, adding Marilyn's confrontation with the U.S. Attorney General was explosive.
Imogen Edwards-Jones co-authored 'The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe' detailing her Kennedy ties.
He was "deep in conflict with a highly emotional Marilyn," who demanded an explanation as to why Bobby was not going to marry her.
Another described the confrontation as "a violent argument about their relationship and the commitment and promises Bobby made to her. She said she was passed around like a piece of meat."
Bobby also allegedly wanted Marilyn's little red book, in which she documented her private interactions with the Kennedys.
"Where the f*** is it?" he yelled at her.
Patterson wrote: "We have to know. It's important to the family. We can make any arrangements you want, but we must find it." Marilyn refuses to answer.
Bobby Kennedy allegedly demanded Monroe's red book before a violent argument broke out.
When she started to scream, according to the book, Bobby got a pillow and muffled her to help keep the neighbors from hearing.
Bobby eventually left, and later on the phone, Monroe allegedly told a friend: "I know a lot of secrets about the Kennedys. Dangerous ones."
She rambled on the phone to another friend about "betrayals – men in high places ... clandestine love affairs." In yet another dramatic call, according to the book, she revealed she had news that "will one day shock the whole world."
We may never know what that news was. Three days before her death at age 36, Patterson revealed, Monroe went to see her personal physician, Dr. Hyman Engelberg. She died the evening of Aug. 4 – after being given 50 capsules of Nembutal, a controlled substance used to treat anxiety and insomnia, among other things.
The medicine can cause paranoia or suicidal ideation and impair memory, judgment and coordination.
The Truth About Marilyn's Death
Marilyn Monroe's death continues to spark conversation.
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"By all accounts, Monroe's death appears to have been an overdose," a source with knowledge of the case told RadarOnline.com. "Whether it was accidental or intentional, that’s another matter."
Yet this book comes along and opens Pandora's box once again. Maybe she was silenced. Detectives who were there that night believed the death appeared to have been staged. To them, that was proof Monroe was murdered.
Others are also convinced that Marilyn's bedroom was a crime scene.
Dr. Thomas Noguchi wrote in his memoir that key details around Monroe's death didn't add up.
"There is a real possibility that Marilyn Monroe was murdered. There were timeline inconsistencies in the medical, the statements and the evidence," stated Norman Mailer, author of Marilyn: A Biography.
The coroner, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, suspected something was amiss, writing in his memoir, "There were several things that disturbed me about Marilyn's death. Things just didn't line up the way they should have."
Then there was Marilyn's close friend, the late actress-model Jeanne Carmen: "Marilyn didn't kill herself," she said bluntly. "She was murdered to keep her quiet."
