Arrests made in drug investigation into Matthew Perry’s ketamine death: Sources
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(LOS ANGELES) — Multiple people are now facing federal charges in connection with the ketamine death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, ABC News has learned.
The arrests were made in an early morning operation Thursday and include a doctor, according to law enforcement sources.
The charges will be announced at a news briefing later on Thursday with the U.S. attorney for Los Angeles and the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Perry died on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54. He was discovered unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home, police said. An autopsy report revealed he died from the acute effects of ketamine.
Perry had high levels of ketamine in his blood, likely lapsed into unconsciousness and then went underwater, according to the autopsy report.
He was reported to have been receiving ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety, with the most recent therapy coming 1 1/2 weeks before his death, according to the autopsy report. However, the medical examiner wrote the ketamine in his system at death could not have been from that infusion therapy, as ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours or less.
His method of intake was listed in the report as unknown.
The autopsy report also listed drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects as contributing factors not related to the immediate cause of death. The manner of death was ruled an accident.
Prescription drugs and loose pills were found at his home, but nothing near where he was found dead, according to the autopsy report.
Multiple agencies have been investigating in the months since his death, including the DEA, Los Angeles Police Department, United States Postal Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Perry was known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom “Friends,” which ran from 1994 to 2004.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MILWAUKEE, Wis.) — People gathered outside the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office on Monday to demand charges be filed against four hotel security guards involved in the death of a Black man that was ruled a homicide.
“D.A. Chisholm, all we want you to do is your job, that’s all we want,” Naisha Mitchell, D’Vontaye Mitchell’s sister, said during the morning rally.
“You told us you were waiting on the autopsy results before you made your next move. Those results came back last week. In my opinion, you should have been at these people’s houses the same day they came out,” she continued.
The demands come days after the Milwaukee County medical examiner ruled Mitchell’s death was a homicide, the result of restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine.
“The medical examiner’s report confirms the obvious here, which was that, you know, D’Vontaye Mitchell was murdered outside of the Hyatt Hotel in Milwaukee by Aimbridge Hospitality employees,” William Sulton, one of the attorneys representing Mitchell’s family, told ABC News.
On Friday, Sulton released newly obtained surveillance video that showed the moments leading up to Mitchell’s death.
“It broke my heart. I didn’t know what to feel. I didn’t know how to feel. If it broke something inside of me because it was so brutal and just what they did to him. It’s unbelievable,” DeAsia Harmon, Mitchell’s wife, told ABC News in an interview after seeing the surveillance videos.
On June 30, Mitchell, 43, showed up to the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency hotel acting frantically, running into the hotel’s gift shop and women’s bathroom, surveillance video showed. Mitchell’s family has said he was having a mental health episode.
The newly released surveillance video shows one security guard dragging Mitchell through the lobby doors before another security guard joins him and starts punching Mitchell while he is still on the ground. A hotel employee then grabs a broom and starts striking Mitchell. The security guards continue to punch Mitchell before he is pinned to the ground for more than 8 minutes, the video, reviewed by ABC News, shows.
“What these videos demonstrate is that he was brutally beaten to death,” Sulton said, adding Mitchell’s family expects the District Attorney’s Office will now charge the security guards.
“We were fortunate in this case to have onlookers who had cell phone video footage, which allowed us to prove that Mr. Mitchell was murdered,” Sulton said, adding that “there are still items that need to be investigated. There’s still evidence that needs to be collected.”
On July 12, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) released a statement saying they had initiated a death investigation the day of the incident, referring felony murder charges with the underlying charge of battery to the District Attorney’s Office on July 5. MPD said the investigation was ongoing and declined further comment.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the hotel management firm that employed the security guards, told ABC News in a new statement they had terminated the guards after reviewing their actions, which were in violation of their policies and procedures. The security guards involved in the incident have not been identified.
“We are continuing to do everything we can to support law enforcement with their ongoing investigation of this tragedy, and will continue our own investigation,” Aimbridge Hospitality said in the statement
Harmon, Mitchell’s wife, said she was devastated to learn the circumstances of her husband’s death. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to feel. I just knew that a part of me was going. A part of me was gone. My daughter just lost her father. And it’s still not real to me,” Harmon said.
“He was a gentle giant. He was loving and caring, and he was smart and funny and very talented. He was a wonderful father, wonderful husband, great friend, brother, cousin, son, all across the board. Everybody who’s ever come in contact with him loved him,” Harmon said.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“I want the law to actually mean something. I want his life to mean something. It meant something to me. It meant something to my daughter. It meant something to his entire family. So for me, I want everyone involved, everyone involved to go to jail,” Harmon said.
The Crew of the next SpaceX private astronaut flight called Polaris Dawn, (Left to Right) Anna Menon, who works to develop astronaut operations for SpaceX, Scott Poteet, who served as the mission director of the Inspiration4 mission SpaceX, Jared Isaacman, who is financing the mission and Sarah Gillis, lead space operations engineer, SpaceX. Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington
(MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.) — Embarking on a new chapter of private space exploration, the Polaris Dawn mission is poised to make history this week by launching four private citizens into ultrahigh orbit and attempting the first civilian spacewalk.
Led by billionaire Jared Isaacman and in collaboration with SpaceX, the crew aims to reach as far as 870 miles above Earth, the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission in more than a half-century since the Apollo program.
SpaceX announced Monday that the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the Polaris Dawn crew to orbit could launch as early as Wednesday at 3:38 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was delayed 24 hours from the planned pre-dawn Tuesday blast-off.
The delay is due to a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical, SpaceX said.
Umbilical systems employ fluid connectors known as quick disconnects to transfer fluids into a vehicle, according to NASA.
“Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit,” the company added.
There are two additional launch opportunities within the four-hour window on Wednesday at 5:23 a.m. and 7:09 a.m. ET. If needed, backup opportunities are available on Thursday, Aug. 29 at the same times, according to SpaceX.
Isaacman, the CEO of the payment-processing company Shift4, will be joined by former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
During the historic mission, which is set to span five days under normal conditions, two of the crew members will exit the spacecraft in the first commercial spacewalk at an altitude of 435 miles above Earth.
During a press briefing last week, Isaacman shared details on the ambitious mission, which will see all four crew members exposed to the vacuum of space due to the absence of an airlock on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
The spacewalk will also serve as a critical test for SpaceX’s new Extravehicular Activity spacesuits, an evolution of the intravehicular activity suit.
This new design includes a heads-up display, helmet camera and enhanced joint mobility. It also features thermal insulation, solar protection and a suspension system that allows you to pressurize the suit, put on a harness and actually go through operations as if you are weightless.
The Dragon spacecraft has undergone significant modifications, including upgrades to the life support systems to supply more oxygen during spacewalks, according to the Polaris Program. Environmental sensing has been improved, and a new nitrogen repressurization system has been installed.
The Polaris Dawn mission will be Isaacman’s second journey to space.
In 2021, he funded his first mission to orbit Earth. The project was billed as a childhood cancer fundraiser, garnering $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and marked the first all-civilian mission to orbit.
Looking to the future, Isaacman believes the SpaceX vehicles could unlock a new frontier in commercial space travel.
“It could very well be the 737 for human space flight someday,” he said of the company’s Starship vehicle. “But it’ll certainly be the vehicle that will return humans to the moon and then on to Mars and beyond.”
The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office released this Ring camera still of Stanley Kotowski in the clothes he was last seen wearing before going missing. (Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — Authorities in South Carolina said they believe they have found the body of an endangered Massachusetts man who went missing over a week ago while vacationing with his family on Hilton Head Island.
Stanley Kotowski, 60, had not been seen since leaving his family’s vacation rental in Sea Pines the morning of Aug. 16, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
The body of a man believed to be Kotowski was found under a home in Sea Pines on Monday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities responded to the home around 11:30 a.m. ET Monday “in connection to suspicious activity,” and the body was recovered about four hours later, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy on Tuesday to determine the manner of death and positively identify the body, the sheriff’s office said.
“We appreciate the assistance provided by other agencies, Sea Pines Security, and the community in the search for Mr. Kotowski,” the sheriff’s office said.
Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. He was listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said.
According to the incident report, Jackie Kotowski told deputies that her husband “believes Sea Pines is a ‘set up’ and has a conspiracy that the people here are out to get him.” She also reported that he had made “several statements of people at this place ‘watching him,'” the incident report stated.
He had been struggling with anxiety before he went missing, his family told ABC Savannah, Georgia, affiliate WJCL-TV following his disappearance.
“He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, told WJCL. “He doesn’t have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse and he started to get a little paranoid, and he thought someone was chasing him.”
He had not taken any personal items, such as his phone or wallet, when he left the rental, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
