Officials say the investigation continues into Matthew Perry’s death, source of fatal ketamine
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on May 21, 2024
The investigation into the death of Friends star Matthew Perry remains ongoing, especially in respect to where he acquired the ketamine that led to his death in October, according to local and federal law enforcement officials.
Perry died at his home from the acute effects of ketamine, according to the autopsy report released in December by the Los Angeles County medical examiner.
Detectives have been interviewing people who could have information about where the drugs came from, sources told ABC News, but they do not have information to narrow in on a source. No arrests have been made.
“Based on the Medical Examiner’s findings, the Los Angeles Police Department, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Postal Inspection Service, has continued its investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Perry’s death,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
The DEA said it had no comment.
The actor, most well known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, died on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54. In his bestselling 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry explored his decadeslong struggle with addiction in sometimes graphic detail.
In a statement the day after responding to his home, the LAPD said Perry “was discovered by a witness unresponsive in his jacuzzi.” There were no signs of foul play at the scene, according to law enforcement officials.
Perry was reported to have been receiving ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety, according to the autopsy report, but the medical examiner wrote the ketamine in his system at the time of his death could not have been from that infusion therapy because ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours or less. His method of intake was listed as unknown.
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