The Sad Tale of Norma Jean Baker

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Baker, was born June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles County General Hospital, the same hospital I was born in 52 years later. Marilyn would be murdered on August 5, 1962, 7 months before I was born. I had never thought Marilyn committed suicide, and I kept up with all the stories about her death since I could start reading and understanding.

There have been so many stories about the death of Marilyn Monroe since that horrible day on August 5, 1962.

Stories have said Eunice Murray, Norman Jeffries, and Marilyn are relaxing and having a calm "family" evening eating Jiffy-Pop popcorn, drinking Pepsi-Cola, and watching NBC Saturday Night At The Movies.

Others have said she spent her final night alive at Frank Sinatra’s Cal Neva. “This is where the rich and elite use to go, and this was their private playground,” said Weige, tour director of Cal Neva.

And then, of course, there is the Mob, CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedys, the Gangster Squad, and the infamous Dr. Ralph Greenson.

Pat Newcomb was said to have stayed the night with Marilyn because Marilyn invited Pat to dine with her. Pat, however, was suffering a bout of bronchitis— to which Marilyn replied, "Why don't you come out here and stay for the night?

The most important thing that has never changed in over 53 years is the people involved, the time frame of events, and the real manner of death. MURDER!

My grandfather Louie was in a gang and later in the mob. (not proud to say but he did change his life later) During the latter half of the 19^th century, Hell’s Kitchen was a notorious haven for gangs who prowled “the tenements, speakeasies, slaughterhouses, lumberyards and railroad yards” that employed a huge immigrant population. It was the home of the “The Hudson Duster’s” and Louie’s life.

The Duster’s had operations in tenement houses on streets like Bethune and Hudson. Kid Yorke, Cirular Jack, and Goo Knox (who left the Gophers) founded the Dusters. The gang consisted of young boys, some even under 10 years old, who would assist the older members in theft, mugging, and murder.

Louie left Hell’s kitchen in 1938, arrived in Hollywood, and worked on a movie with James Cagney, “The Mayor of Hell.” He then worked around the studios as a runner and ran into comedian Maury Amsterdam who took a liking to Louie. Amsterdam had been friends with Al Capone, so he could get Louie a job at Capone’s house in Miami Beach.

Louie hung out with Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and the rest of the mob. He even became involved with La Cosa Nostra. We talked about Marilyn Monroe several times, and my grandfather continually told me that Marilyn Monroe was not killed by the mob, Lucky Luciano, or any other gangster. According to my grandfather, the mob had no reason to kill Marilyn. The mob and Robert Kennedy were at odds, and they would never have killed Marilyn for Kennedy. The mob had no reason to kill Marilyn.

Louie stated that Marilyn was never seen around Al Capone’s place or with Lucky Luciano. He did say, A matter of fact, her name was never even spoken about until after she was killed. The word around the mob was Marilyn was murdered by Robert Kennedy and his guys. Marilyn Monroe was just another beautiful actress who got involved with the wrong man as far as the mob was concerned. 

I have compiled various timelines based on police reports, government documents, interviews, and notes from published books. I have found several discrepancies that I will include. There is no reason that the death certificate of Marilyn Monroe should be changed from “probable suicide” to “Homicide.”

Stay tuned!

Dr. Hyman Engelberg

Dr. Hyman  Engelberg

Dr. Engelberg gave an interview with a 48 hours investigator in 1982. I found various discrepancies while reading the statements. Do you see any?

Investigator: There was apparently quite a volume of pills discovered at her death, at her bedside….

Engleberg: Yes.

Investigator: Do you recall looking at a list of those pills? And were they all prescribed by you?

Engleberg: No. Only one had to be prescribed by me. I had prescribed Nembutal to help her sleep. But as I recall, to the best of my ability, I was surprised to see a large number of other sleeping pills at the side of her bed, which looked like Seconal, which she had apparently purchased on a recent trip to Mexico. It's my understanding that in Mexico in those days, you could walk into any pharmacy and buy, you know, any tranquilizers or sleeping pills you wanted. There were certainly lots of other sleeping pills I had not prescribed…. (The first time I ever heard him say this about other pills from Mexico) 

Investigator: Chloral Hydrate specifically?

Dr. Engleberg: I knew nothing about any Chloral Hydrate. I never used Chloral Hydrate….

Investigator: So you wrote her a prescription for Nembutal only?

Dr. Engleberg: That was it. That was the only prescription I wrote for sedatives.

Investigator: Did you go to her house?

Dr. Engleberg: Oh, sure.

Investigator: Do you recall the time?

Engleberg: What?

Investigator: Do you recall the time?

Engleberg: I don't think, you know, of looking at the exact time….But I recall that it must have been in the general area of 3:00am…maybe 2:30. Somewhere in that area….

Investigator: The reason I'm asking is, as you probably know is the discrepancies in the time that you were called. One person saying it was around midnight, and other one was saying it was around 3am…

Engleberg: Dr. Greenson was called first. And he got there first. I think I was called around 2:30 to 3 o'clock….

Investigator: It wouldn't have been around midnight?

Engleberg: Oh, no. No, no, no. Absolutely not.

Investigator: Okay. Did you then go into Marilyn's bedroom?

Engleberg: Yes.

Investigator: What did you see there?

Engleberg: She was sprawled over the bed, and she was dead.

Investigator: When you say sprawled, what position was she actually in?

Engleberg: I don't recall exactly what position she was in. I knew that I had to be since I was an internist. I took out my stethoscope and listened to make sure her heart wasn't beating. Checked her pupils because that's one of the sensitive ways to tell if a person is dead or not. I said she was dead. Which, of course, Dr. Greeson knew anyway, but I had to go through the motions…. (He would have to turn her body over to check her pupils, so did he turn her on her back and then back on her stomach? If so why would he do that?) 

Investigator: Was there a reason there was a delay of half-hour, or do you consider it was a delay?

Engleberg: We were stunned. We were talking over what happened, what she had said. Ordinarily, when you pronounce somebody dead, you don't call the police; you call the mortician. I was the one who, I guess, eventually said, gee, I think in this case, we'd better call the police. (And why would this case be different if she really was dead)

Los Angeles Police Department Corruption

Chief William Parker

August 5, 1962, it was around midnight near the intersection of Robertson and Olympic Blvd., when  Beverly Hills Detective Lynn Franklin pulls over an intoxicated Peter Lawford in his Lincoln Continental sedan with the headlights off going 70– 80 MPH with Dr. Ralph Greenson in the front seat and Bobby Kennedy in the backseat. Not eager to give Lawford a ticket with Bobby in the backseat, Detective Franklin gives them proper directions to go to the Beverly Hilton Hotel since Peter, drunk and hysterical, was driving in the opposite direction heading toward downtown Los Angeles. At the time of the stop, Franklin said he did not correlate Bobby Kennedy with Marilyn Monroe as news of her death was still hours away.

The first LAPD officer to arrive, Sgt. Jack Clemmons strongly felt Marilyn was murdered and that the body was arranged and not in the position that you would expect a victim of poisoning to be. Of course, he was told to leave the scene by Sgt. Marvin Iannone.

Peter Lawford and Sgt. Marvin Iannone enters the guest cottage. The five eyewitnesses to Marilyn Monroe’s murder by Ralph Greenson were Schaefer Ambulance attendant James Hall, Schaefer Ambulance driver Murray Liebowitz, Peter Lawford, Pat Newcomb, and Sgt. Marvin D. Iannone. Within minutes, Marilyn dies.

When Sgt. Clemmons continued to argue that Marilyn did not commit suicide; he was fired by Chief William Parker for not remaining quiet and not agreeing with him that Marilyn committed suicide. 

When Marilyn’s body was found, there was no glass of water in the room, meaning that she would not have had any liquid to swallow that many pills. Once someone pointed this out after the search was completed, a glass was found near the bed.

The pathologist, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, could find no trace of capsules, powder, or the typical discoloration caused by Nembutal in Monroe’s stomach or intestines.  For many years this fact was seized upon by conspiracy theorists as vital evidence that the drugs that killed her had not been swallowed but injected.  There was a strange bruise on her left hip, a common location for an injection, or possibly a sign of a violent struggle.

The LAPD needs to be accountable for destroying all of the evidence that was needed to prove murder. 

Come on, let's think logically here. Medical samples, photographs, slides of those organs that were examined, and the examination form showing bruises on the body all disappeared shortly after the autopsy, making it impossible to investigate the cause of death. And, how is it that everybody's specimen, including the liver, kidney, and stomach and its contents, which would have proven definitely she did not kill herself, disappear overnight?

Two witnesses are still alive in regards to that night, Marvin Iannone and Pat Newcomb. Both Iannone and Newcomb should be questioned under oath and charged with Aiding and Abetting in the murder of Marilyn Monroe if they took any part in the murder, including protecting the people involved. However, I think they will go to their graves with this, and then God will be their judge. I personally would rather be judged here on earth. 

Some words were excerpts from The Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed / by Jay Margolis.

Welcome to my blog!

I am a private investigator and owner of Ariel Investigations, Inc. in California and New Mexico. I am the prime investigator in the IFC documentary titled “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” directed by the Oscar-nominated director Kirby Dick, and I conducted the investigations in the documentary “Outrage” and “The Invisible War,” again with Kirby Dick.

I have spent 20 years working on cases in the entertainment industry with kidnapping, murder, theft, embezzlement, child prostitution, and child abuse. Insurance fraud, stalking, harassment, rape, a missing teenager, and a terrorist cell that would attack the Directors Guild of America. Some of the names will be changed to protect my clients or victims. I hope you will enjoy these stories and learn something valuable from them.

Thanks ~~ P.I. Becky