Brown’s death queried
Was James Brown murdered? More than a dozen people want his death investigated, reports Sara Moniuszko ,of USA Today.
A recent investigation has revealed 13 people who knew the late US singer James Brown, who died in 2006 aged 73, believe he did not die of natural causes in spite of his cause of death being recorded as heart failure. They are calling for a criminal investigation into his death and want the singer’s body exhumed for an autopsy.
IN a new bombshell investigation, 13 people say they suspect James Brown did not die of natural causes.
In a threepart investigation by CNN, published last week, more than a dozen people who knew the late singer say they want a criminal investigation into his death or would like the singer’s body exhumed for an autopsy.
After Brown died on
December 25, 2006, at age 73, his official cause of death was listed as congestive heart failure, resulting from complications of pneumonia.
One of the nearly 140 people interviewed for the CNN piece was Dr Marvin Crawford, the doctor who treated Brown at an Atlanta hospital before his death and the one who signed his death certificate. Crawford now says he too doubts Brown died of natural causes. Instead, he believes it was an overdose, accidental or otherwise.
Brown’s condition ‘‘changed too fast’’, Crawford told CNN.
‘‘He was a patient I would never have predicted would have coded,’’ referring to a medical term used to describe a patient in cardiopulmonary arrest.
‘‘But he died that night, and I did raise that question: What went wrong in that room?’’
Another event that prompted suspicion was the everchanging official story of Brown’s death from his personal manager at the time, Charles Bobbit. Those interviewed by CNN said Bobbit’s story ‘‘didn’t make sense’’ and described it as ‘‘always a little vague’’.
Andre Moses White, a friend who helped Brown check into the hospital in December 2006, told the outlet he was so convinced Brown’s death was not what it appeared that he took a vial of the singer’s blood from an IV tube shortly after Brown’s death in the hope authorities could use it to investigate.
Brown’s daughter, Yamma Brown, declined to say why the family did not ask for an autopsy at the time of her father’s death.
The CNN investigation also examined the death of Brown’s third wife, Adrienne Brown, and delved into the singer’s past.
Although police found no foul play in Adrienne Brown’s January 6, 1996, death, her friend Jacque Hollander told CNN she believed otherwise.
Hollander also alleged she was raped by James Brown in 1988, which she says she told his wife Adrienne about at the time. Brown was never prosecuted.
Police reports from the time of their marriage show Adrienne claimed her husband became violent with her around the same time. Brown was arrested after a neighbour confirmed to police she saw the singer pull a trigger on Adrienne, the bullet of which hit her car tyre and boot.
According to Hollander, Adrienne said the case against her husband had disappeared because she had been told to drop the charges or be killed.
USA Today has reached out to the Brown family attorney for comment on the allegations. — TCA