The Murder of Marilyn Monroe Read online

  George Erengis, a Twentieth Century-Fox security guard, relayed to Richard Buskin, “On the Monday following her death, I went into Marilyn’s dressing room on the Fox lot and it had been cleared out. Nothing, not a trace of her had been left. I was shocked. She had earned that studio a fortune but they didn’t waste any time trying to erase her memory.”

  For her part, actress Debbie Reynolds relayed to Britain’s Daily Express newspaper how she told Marilyn to watch herself when dating the Kennedy brothers: “I saw her two days before she died and warned her to be careful. She was such a sweet and innocent girl but she was used by men. I believe she was murdered because too many people were afraid the truth would come out.”

  In an earlier interview, Reynolds remembered, “Her life was very sad. And the ending was very sad indeed. And those of us who knew Marilyn, always were kind of dreaming for that great white knight to arrive and really love her and not take advantage of her.”

  Joe DiMaggio was that great white knight. As for Marilyn’s second marriage on January 14, 1954, former FBI agent Monte Hall revealed to Jay Margolis, “I was at the wedding. Marilyn was married by a judge [Charles S. Perry] in a San Francisco courthouse. I happened to be there at the time. I knew Joe quite well. A lot of us in the San Francisco office knew Joe DiMaggio.”

  Morris Engelberg (no relation to Marilyn’s physician Dr. Hyman Engelberg) was one of DiMaggio’s best friends and the executor of his estate. According to him, “Joe DiMaggio was in love with Marilyn Monroe until the moment he died … ‘I’ll finally get to see Marilyn,’ were his last words … He ached at the thought of how close they had come to remarrying … The date of their second marriage was set: August 8, 1962.”

  When Engelberg asked Joe, Jr., if he concurred with his father’s conviction that the Kennedys were responsible for Marilyn Monroe’s death, the younger DiMaggio replied, “She didn’t die of natural causes, and she wasn’t going to kill herself, not when she was about to remarry my father.”

  Jane Russell told Jay Margolis, “I think she was going to remarry Joe DiMaggio.” Russell explained how she learned of the marriage plans from mutual friends shortly before Marilyn’s death.

  Marilyn’s niece Mona Rae Miracle revealed, “Berniece’s heartbreak at handling Marilyn’s funeral was ameliorated by the help Joe gave her with arrangements. ‘They were going to remarry,’ says Berniece. ‘Marilyn was thinking ahead to that.’ ” Mona Rae concurred, “I know she was planning to remarry Joe. He really was the love of her life. They could have made it work … I do not subscribe to any of these suicide theories.”

  BOBBY KENNEDY BROUGHT ALONG ONE OF HIS TWO LONGTIME PERSONAL BODYGUARDS TO SEDATE MARILYN IN THE AFTERNOON

  Peter Lawford recalled how, at approximately two o’clock on the afternoon of August 4, 1962, he and Bobby Kennedy arrived at Marilyn Monroe’s home. Lawford told biographer C. David Heymann she had set aside some Mexican food, which suggested she was expecting Bobby’s visit. Heymann wrote that the buffet included “guacamole, stuffed mushrooms, spicy meatballs … plus a chilled magnum of her favorite beverage, champagne. Lawford poured himself a glass and went out to the swimming pool so Marilyn and Bobby could talk.” An existing receipt proves she purchased this food from Briggs Delicatessen the day before in the amount of $49.07. Regarding Bobby and Marilyn, Lawford informed Heymann:

  They argued back and forth for maybe ten minutes, Marilyn becoming more and more hysterical. At the height of her anger she allowed how first thing Monday morning she was going to call a press conference and tell the world about the treatment she had suffered at the hands of the Kennedy brothers. At this point Bobby became livid. In no uncertain terms he told her she would have to leave both Jack and him alone—no more telephone calls, no letters, nothing. They didn’t want to hear from her anymore. Marilyn presently lost it, screaming obscenities and flailing wildly away at Bobby with her fists. In her fury she picked up a small kitchen knife and lunged at him. I was with them at this time, so I tried to grab Marilyn’s arm. We finally knocked her down and managed to wrestle the knife away. Bobby thought we ought to call Dr. Greenson and tell him to come over. The psychiatrist arrived at Marilyn’s home within the hour.

  To Donald Spoto, Pat Newcomb confirmed Peter Lawford’s account: “I was at her house that afternoon until three and that’s when Greenson came and told me to leave. He wanted to deal with her … She was very upset … Greenson told Mrs. Murray to take her out for a walk on the beach in the car … And that’s the last I saw of her.”

  When interviewed by biographer Maurice Zolotow in October 1973, Greenson stated that when he arrived at Marilyn’s in the early afternoon, “It was clear she had taken some sleeping pills during the day.”

  Attempting to mask why she was really upset, Dr. Greenson and housekeeper Eunice Murray claimed that Marilyn was mad at Pat Newcomb—who had slept over on August 3—because Pat had enjoyed a good night’s sleep whereas Marilyn, typically, hadn’t. “Pat had stayed overnight, and apparently had taken sleeping pills, perhaps some of Marilyn’s Nembutal,” Murray relayed to Rose Shade, her coauthor on the 1975 book Marilyn: The Last Months. “Pat was still asleep, and would sleep serenely until noon—the way Marilyn longed to sleep. Marilyn was not pleased. To sleep twelve hours in her house was like feasting in front of a starving person.”

  “She resented the fact that Pat Newcomb had taken some pills … and slept twelve hours and Marilyn had also taken pills and slept only six hours,” Ralph Greenson told Maurice Zolotow. “I said that instead of Pat staying overnight, Pat should go home and Mrs. Murray remain the night. I didn’t want Marilyn to be alone.”

  This contradicted Greenson’s earlier recollection, in a letter sent to his colleague Dr. Marianne Kris just weeks after Marilyn died, that it was actually Marilyn who had wanted Pat to leave: “I finally asked the girlfriend to leave because this was Marilyn’s request, and I asked the housekeeper to stay overnight, which she did not ordinarily do on Saturday nights.”

  According to that housekeeper, “Dr. Greenson asked me if I had planned on staying that night. He asked this in a rather offhand way, without any special reason for my staying at her home, for Marilyn felt secure. She often told me that staying alone was no problem with her.”

  What Greenson, Murray, and Newcomb didn’t want to admit was that Marilyn had been really upset over her row with Bobby Kennedy. Years later, Mrs. Murray would concede to Anthony Summers that the argument was indeed over Bobby’s earlier visit. In the 1985 Say Goodbye to the President documentary, Murray and Summers shared the following exchange regarding Marilyn’s last day on August 4:

  MRS. MURRAY:

  Well, over a period of time, I was not at all surprised that the Kennedys were a very important part of Marilyn’s life. I was not included in this information but I was a witness to what was happening.

  SUMMERS:

  And you believe that he was here?

  MRS. MURRAY:

  At Marilyn’s house?

  SUMMERS:

  Yes.

  MRS. MURRAY:

  Oh, sure.

  SUMMERS:

  That afternoon?

  MRS. MURRAY:

  Yes.

  SUMMERS:

  And you think that is the reason she was so upset?

  MRS. MURRAY:

  Yes.

  When Summers asked Mrs. Murray why she lied to the police, she conceded, “I told whatever I thought was good to tell.”

  As for Pat Newcomb, she told Donald Spoto, “Marilyn seemed angry that I had been able to sleep and she hadn’t—but something else was behind it all.”4

  Robert Kennedy testified in a sworn deposition to Captain Edward Michael Davis that he arrived at Marilyn’s home in the afternoon. Later, Davis became LAPD chief during the years 1969–1978.

  In 1978, former OCID (Organized Crime Intelligence Division) detective Mike Rothmiller actually saw the statement made by Bobby Kennedy about Marilyn Monroe and his secret trip to her home on the afternoon o
f August 4. Additionally, Rothmiller saw a copy of Marilyn’s diary, located in the OCID file rooms. Pertaining to Bobby Kennedy’s statement, Rothmiller told biographers Peter Harry Brown and Patte Barham that Bobby Kennedy “said he was involved with Monroe—but he wasn’t, implying a friendly relationship. He also said he had met with her several times during the summer.”

  On August 4, 1962, Marilyn’s female next-door neighbor to the east and her friend Elizabeth Pollard were busy playing bridge with two other ladies as they did every Saturday afternoon. According to Dr. Greenson’s daughter Joan, “Marilyn found out that the neighbor who you could see from her property was a professor at the university.” This was UCLA professor Ralph Mosser Barnes (born October 17, 1900) from the Engineering and Production Management department. He taught at UCLA from July 1, 1949, until July 1, 1968. It was his wife Mary W. Goodykoontz Barnes (born October 25, 1904) who played hostess to that Saturday afternoon bridge party at 12304 Fifth Helena Drive the day Marilyn died. At the time, Mrs. Barnes refused to identify herself to Sgt. Clemmons, and because she passed away on March 12, 1964, her eyewitness account seemingly disappeared into the wind—until now. As for her UCLA professor husband Mr. Barnes, he died on November 5, 1984.

  The four card-playing ladies, including hostess Mary W. Goodykoontz Barnes and guest Elizabeth Pollard, earlier witnessed Bobby Kennedy go into Marilyn’s house and subsequently saw him leave and, shortly thereafter, reenter with one of his two longtime personal bodyguards from the LAPD, Archie Case or James Ahern. Case or Ahern gave Marilyn an intramuscular pentobarbital (Nembutal) shot in the armpit to calm her down, shortly after Lawford and Kennedy had confiscated the knife from her.

  “[Pathologist Thomas] Noguchi admitted there was a needle mark under one of her armpits,” says funeral director Allan Abbott, who was one of the pallbearers when Marilyn was laid to rest. “Of course, with a star like Marilyn Monroe who was taking prescription drugs—the doctors agreed to give her those injections so it wouldn’t show on camera. It was very common to have shots given in the armpit.”

  When asked if Noguchi admitted there was a needle mark in Marilyn’s armpit, Abbott replied, “That was the word I got from one of his deputies,” confirming this relates to the Nembutal injection that Case or Ahern gave Marilyn during the last afternoon of her life.

  A confidential source revealed, “Bobby said in his deposition that he and Peter Lawford went to Marilyn’s house late in the afternoon of August 4. There was a violent argument, and Marilyn was grabbed by Bobby and thrown to the floor … Then she was given an injection of pentobarbital in her armpit, which settled her down … RFK said in his statement that the doctor [Case or Ahern] gave Marilyn the shot under her left arm. He even named the artery on the tape. He said the shot that went into her was pentobarbital.”

  Talking with Jay Margolis about an event that took place in 1986, George Barris recalled, “Gloria Steinem and I were signing the book we did together in Brentwood in a big book store, and a woman came up to me. She was elderly. She wanted me to autograph a book. She said, ‘Mr. Barris, I was a neighbor to Marilyn. I was playing bridge with my friends, and there were people coming and going. That afternoon was Saturday. I saw someone who I believed was Bobby Kennedy and another man go into Marilyn’s home and they came out a short while later.’ She could see people who came and went. She didn’t know who the other man was but she assumed he was a doctor and he had a little black case. Doctors carry it … It probably was not Greenson because the psychiatrist came later to her house.”

  Since the bridge party hostess Mary W. Goodykoontz Barnes and guest Elizabeth Pollard were not the only two ladies at the bridge party, there must be another neighbor of Marilyn’s who spoke with George Barris in 1986. This third woman only identified herself to Mr. Barris as Marilyn Monroe’s neighbor. All that is known about her is that she was a guest at the bridge party at 12304 Fifth Helena Drive that last Saturday. In addition, there must have been a fourth person as a guest or an additional neighbor because including the hostess Mrs. Barnes, it takes four people to play bridge. The names of the third and fourth guests may never be known.

  It was in 1974 when Elizabeth Pollard’s daughter Betty relayed her mother’s story about the Saturday afternoon card party and the sighting of Bobby Kennedy. Biographers Brown and Barham wrote: “The Attorney General and another well-dressed man [Case or Ahern] came to the house sometime late in the afternoon. Women at a card party were able to see the man from an upstairs window. One of them, referring to Kennedy, said, ‘Look, girls, there he is again.’ ”

  Mrs. Murray explains how an author “related sensational rumors about Bobby Kennedy’s arriving at the house that afternoon with a physician, reportedly to sedate an hysterical Marilyn.” Mrs. Murray continues to comment how the “story stems from reports of a card party on Fifth Helena that afternoon at which the ladies were supposed to have looked out the window and seen Kennedy walking through Marilyn’s gate with a man carrying a doctor’s black bag.”

  Anthony Summers wrote, “I tracked that story to its source, a woman called Betty Pollard. She says her mother [Elizabeth Pollard] was playing bridge at a neighbor’s home that day, when her hostess drew the players’ attention to a car parking outside. Kennedy, immediately recognizable, emerged from the car and went into Marilyn’s house.”

  That afternoon, the card-playing friends saw Kennedy bring Case or Ahern. They did not see Greenson. Importantly, Greenson was not qualified to give intramuscular injections. The ladies witnessed Bobby Kennedy leave Marilyn’s, then quickly return again with “another well-dressed man” [Case or Ahern] carrying a black bag. Furthermore, the unidentified neighbor who spoke with Mr. Barris said she saw “Bobby Kennedy and another man go into Marilyn’s home and they came out a short while later.” In fact, since Greenson arrived nearly an hour later, it simply couldn’t have been him. Logistically, what the four ladies saw was Bobby retrieve Case or Ahern from the white Lincoln convertible parked out front. Bobby Kennedy borrowed the car from FBI agent William Simon whenever he visited Marilyn.

  From the window of Mary W. Goodykoontz Barnes’s home on 12304 Fifth Helena Drive, looking over the gates, a person could easily see cars parked up the driveway and anyone who entered or left Marilyn’s house.

  Kennedy instructed Case or Ahern to give Marilyn the Nembutal shot in order to stun her, while he and Lawford searched the house for her little red diary. Goddess author Anthony Summers wrote that a confidential source heard tapes capturing the August 4 afternoon visit by Kennedy and Lawford to Marilyn’s home:

  The source says both Marilyn’s and Kennedy’s voices were easily recognizable. Like Otash—and it is worth noting that the source and Otash do not know each other—the source says there was a heated argument.

  According to Summers’s confidential source, the voices of Marilyn and Bobby Kennedy increased in volume as she challenged him to explain why he was reneging on his promise to marry her while Bobby several times demanded to know where “it” was located. Following the sound of a door being slammed, Kennedy could then be heard returning with Peter Lawford. “We have to know,” the highly agitated Attorney General screeched at the actress. “It’s important to the family. We can make any arrangements you want, but we must find it.” As Kennedy searched for “it,” Lawford tried to calm him down. Meanwhile, Marilyn screamed at the men to leave. Next, there were “thumping, bumping noises, then muffled, calming sounds. It sounded as though she was being put on the bed.”

  “Bobby came back with Peter,” Marilyn wrote in her little red diary. “Shook me until I was dizzy and threw me on the bed. Should call the doctor.”

  As noted earlier, it was Lawford who called Dr. Greenson to the home. However, Kennedy was looking for Monroe’s diary. It was the diary that Bobby could make “arrangements” for and which would be “important to the family.”

  In the documentary Marilyn: The Last Word, Anthony Summers stated: “Robert Kennedy is demanding for her to give him some
thing. He keeps demanding, ‘Where is it? Where is it, Marilyn? You’ve got to tell me where it is! We’ll come to some arrangement but the family must have it.’ Perhaps he was asking about the diary.”

  This was confirmed by Marilyn herself, who wrote in that diary, “Bobby was really mad. Acted crazy and searched all my stuff. Told him it’s mine. I’ll never let him have it.”5

  Norman Jefferies, Marilyn’s handyman who also happened to be Eunice Murray’s son-in-law, gave a chilling account of that last afternoon to biographer Donald Wolfe. Murray and Jefferies both recalled that Marilyn, not dressed when Bobby and Peter arrived, was still wearing her white terry-cloth robe. “Mr. Lawford made it very clear that he wanted Eunice and I [sic] out of there” Jefferies stated. “When we came back—maybe it was an hour later—their car was gone … Marilyn was hysterical and looked awful … She was scared and at the same time she was terribly angry.”

  It was in light of Joe DiMaggio recently asking her to remarry him that Marilyn wanted to bitterly remind Bobby Kennedy about his pledge to marry her. By now, Marilyn had come to terms with the fact that Bobby was not going to divorce his wife Ethel. However, infuriated by his desire to still sleep with Marilyn, she wanted to nail him about his broken promise and total disregard for toying with her emotions. Indeed, the only thing he cared about—and the only reason for him showing up—was for her red diary. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered.