Police raid home of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal doctor
(Isaac Brekken/AP)
Police enter the home of Dr Conrad Murray in Las Vegas
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Police and federal agents tonight searched the home of Michael Jackson's personal physician following reports that the authorities believe Dr Conrad Murray killed the pop star by administering a powerful anaesthetic drug.
Dr Murray is said to have given Jackson propofol through an intravenous drip the night before he died. The drug, also known as Diprivan, is used to induce unconsciousness in hospital patients before major surgery. Reports have said that it was found in Jackson’s home.
A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that Jackson relied on propofol - marketed as Diprivan - like an alarm clock to help him sleep. A doctor would administer it when Jackson went to bed, then stop the IV drip when the singer wanted to wake up.
On June 25, the day Jackson died, Dr Murray gave him the drug through an IV sometime after midnight, the official said.
Dr Murray, 51, has been a central character in the investigation from the outset - Jackson's family have long accused him of having a hand in his death. The raid on his gated residence in Las Vegas, apparently in search of medical records, comes a week after a search of his offices in Houston, Texas, by police.
Investigators are working under the theory that propofol caused Jackson's heart to stop. The star is believed to have been using the drug for about two years, and investigators are trying to determine how many other doctors administered it.
Propofol is not in itself an addictive drug but it is not meant to be used routinely to aid sleep. The drug can depress breathing and lower heart rates and blood pressure. Because of the risks, propofol is supposed to be administered only in medical settings by trained personnel.
The cardiologist was with Jackson when he died on June 25 and has been identified in court papers as the subject of a manslaughter investigation. But Dr Murray's lawyer has said the doctor did not prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Jackson.
Edward Chernoff said he would not comment on "rumours, innuendo or unnamed sources", adding later in a statement online: "Everyone needs to take a breath and wait for these long delayed toxicology results. Things tend to shake out when all the facts are made known, and I'm sure that will happen here as well."
The test reports, ordered by the Los Angeles coroner, are due later this week. Criminal charges are likely to follow their publication. Investigators have also reviewed medical records taken from the offices of other doctors in the probe.
ABC News has reported that pathologists discovered a cocktail of prescription drugs in Jackson's body, including the powerful painkillers OxyContin and Demerol.
Dr Murray, who had been treating Jackson for three years and had recently moved into his rented mansion in preparation for travelling to London with him for a gruelling series of concerts, desperately tried to revive the star when he found him unconscious at his home.
Police found propofol and other drugs in the home. An IV line and three tanks of oxygen were in the room where Jackson slept, and 15 more oxygen tanks were in a security guard's shack.
Police officers have searched the doctor's offices under a warrant allowing authorities to seek "property or items constituting evidence of the offence of manslaughter that tend to show that Dr Conrad Murray committed the said criminal offence".
Dr Murray, who is licensed to practice in California, Texas and Nevada, has kept a low profile since Jackson's death. He was interviewed twice by police but has not spoken publicly. Doors to his Las Vegas office have remained locked with curtains drawn behind them. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said last week he had sought information from "seven or eight" doctors and Dr Murray is the only one he has yet to talk to.