Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain - mirror.co.ukMichael Jackson to be buried without his brain
WORLD EXCLUSIVE by David Gardner in Los Angeles 5/07/2009
Organ removed as investigators seek clues to star's death
Michael Jackson will be buried this week– without his brain. As his family tries to finalise details for the King of Pop’s funeral on Tuesday they have been told it will be held back for tests.
They faced the grim choice of waiting up to three weeks for Jackson’s brain to be returned to them or go ahead and bury him without it – which they have decided to do.
Los Angeles Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey confirmed that neuropathology tests will be carried out to see if it holds any clues to the exact cause of his death.
But the examination cannot begin until at least two weeks after the death when the brain has hardened sufficiently to slice it open.
Jackson died from a cardiac arrest at his Beverly Hills mansion on June 25 after a suspected overdose of painkillers.
Sources at the coroner’s office revealed that his brain was removed before his body was released to relatives the next day.
A forensic neuropathologist will test Jackson’s brain for, among other things, past drug use and whether he has suffered overdoses in the past.
The brain can also show any past abuse of alcohol or if the deceased had suffered from any one of a number of diseases. The source said that removing the brain is the “only way to carry out the tests”.
“The tissue has to be examined,” he said. “I can’t tell you how long that is going to take.”
One expert explained that the Jackson family could decide to wait and bury the brain with the rest of the body. But it is far more common for the lab to burn the remains once they’ve been examined or for them to be placed into the grave at a later date.
“It’s up to the family. They can bury him and then bury the brain later on,” said Dr Cyril Wecht, a former coroner and one of America’s foremost forensic pathologists.
But he added: “It’s rare for the body to be held back for two weeks or more.”
Jackson’s body was handed over to his family soon after the three-hour autopsy was completed and the Jacksons went on to order a second forensic examination.
But Dr Wecht said: “The brain cannot be properly examined at the time of the autopsy. You cannot test it while it is in the body. So it is cut off at the spinal cord and removed.”
The brain would usually be placed in a plastic bucket, suspended in formaldehyde fluid, and put in a refridgerator at 4C to preserve it.
Dr Wecht went on: “People don’t realise how soft the brain is. To do the type of detailed examination required you need to have the brain much harder – and for that you have to wait for at least 10 days to two weeks.”
Dr Wecht, who was not involved in the Jackson autopsies, has reviewed and been consulted on many high-profile deaths, including John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Anna Nicole Smith.
“In Los Angeles they have a neuropathologist they work with, and he will be looking at the brain,” he said.
It is cut into sections of less than half-an-inch thick and reviewed first by the naked eye and then through a microscopic. “That all takes 17 to 18 days,” Dr Wecht added in an exclusive interview.
Dr Wecht, who chronicles his career dissecting more than 16,000 bodies in his best- selling memoir A Question Of Murder, added: “In the 47 years I have been doing this I reckon only about one per cent of families say they want the brain back so they can bury it. In most cases it is incinerated.”
The autopsy is expected to show that the 50-year-old singer had drugs in his system when he died.
At various times, he is said to have been taking Demerol and Oxycontin for pain from old back and leg injuries and Diprivan, a hospital anaesthetic, to help him sleep.
- MICHAEL Jackson starred as the Scarecrow in The Wiz, the 1978 musical version of The Wizard of Oz – playing the character without a brain opposite Diana Ross as Dorothy.
July 5, 2009
Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain - mirror.co.uk
Michael Jackson locked boys in his bedroom and fed wine from babies' bottles | News | News Of The World
Michael Jackson locked boys in his bedroom and fed wine from babies' bottles | News | News Of The World
TRUSTED: Housekeeper Adrian's pass into Jackson's weird worldMichael Jackson locked boys in his bedroom and fed wine from babies' bottles
Former housekeeper reveals how star plyed them with booze before sexually abusing them
MICHAEL Jackson's former housekeeper today reveals how the star would lock boys in his bedroom for days, plying them with booze before sexually abusing them.
Adrian McManus also told the News of the World he even issued veiled DEATH THREATS to his staff to STOP them telling cops about it.
"Every night I went home feeling sick to my stomach," said Adrian, 47, one of the Neverland Five who sued him for wrongful dismissal. "He was a lonely, deranged, sick human tragedy.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE MICHAEL JACKSON STORIES, PHOTOS AND VIDEOS
"And he wasn't playing at being a boy again, this man was molesting boys."
WITNESS: Adrian saw abuseTrusted Adrian, who worked for the star for four years, had the only keys to his downstairs private quarters which included his main bedroom with the children's rooms in a loft above him.
"He was at his happiest when he had little boys with him," she said. "He would lock himself in his bedroom for days at a time with them. He acted inappropriately with at least ten boys."
Teetotaller Jacko also kept wine in his room to spike soft drinks - which he gave his young guests in babies' bottles. "He would buy dozens of these baby bottles for the older kids," said Adrian. "It was obvious he was drinking and slipping wine into their drinks.
"Michael filmed the boys with cameras and videos, and packed photo boards with their naked bodies."
She tells how she saw Jackson abuse Jordy Chandler in his room. "I saw Michael kiss and touch Jordan. They both bounded into the bedroom, soaking wet, after playing under the waterfall at the side of the house.
"Then Michael just lent forward slowly and kissed Jordan on the lips. Michael then moved his hand down. I froze and realised that my boss was a paedophile." But Adrian and other staff felt they would be in danger if they spoke out about what they saw. "On one of my first days Michael said very calmly, 'You know Adrian if you do or say something I don't like, I will have someone take care of you - but it wouldn't come from me.'
"I took that as a death threat." Adrian says she witnessed Jackson's physical decline as years of plastic surgery took their toll.
Even in 1993 the star, enjoying a comeback with the Dangerous tour, was already a wreck.
Adrian said: "He weighed no more than nine stone and he'd lost so much of his hair he had weaves put in every couple of months.
"His nose was always a problem. Now and again he wore plasters around the side to cover or support it. It was severely caved in.
"In his closet he had a jar of fake noses and stage glue, which he told me he used for disguises - but some were similar to his real nose, just without the hole."
Adrian also revealed the star dabbled in the occult. "In his room he had a Ouija board and voodoo dolls which he and the kids played with," she said.
"He loved collecting books on oddities, like midgets, the elephant man and aliens. He also had a wide selection of books on mind control and manipulation."
Adrian even claimed the star wed Lisa Marie Presley for her dad's lucrative back catalogue. She said: "Michael wrote a note on his bedroom pin board 'Got to acquire the song list for Elvis'. Within days Lisa Marie turned up at the house."
But she said her most vivid memories are of the abuse. "Michael Jackson is no hero, but a depraved monster who went through some very dark times. Now he's dead, the world should know the truth."
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Jack in the box | Michael Jackson in Charlie Chaplin photos | Showbiz|michael jackson | News Of The World
Jack in the box | Michael Jackson in Charlie Chaplin photos | Showbiz|michael jackson | News Of The WorldJACK IN THE BOX
Amazing pictures uncover weird star’s macabre sense of humour
GRUESOME GAG: Jacko, then 21, plays dead in a coffin surrounded by models of notorious killers in Madame Tussaud'sTHIS is the chilling dress rehearsal carried out nearly 30 years before the main event.
On Tuesday, legions of fans will pay their respects at a memorial service and Michael Jackson's body will be buried in a solid bronze casket.
SEE ASTONISHING JACKO 'HAPPY FAMILY' PICS
But today the News of the World publishes an astonishing series of bizarre photos - including one macabre shot of him playing dead in a COFFIN at London's famous Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum.
A RIGHT CHARLIE: Jacko as his hero ChaplinOther pictures that have never been seen before show the King Of Pop dressed as his hero CHARLIE CHAPLIN on a visit to Britain when he was 21.
One shot has Jacko in typical coy Chaplin pose with black bowler hat and cane. In another he is cowering in a corner between two brick walls.
As our main image shows, in Tussaud's Chamber Of Horrors he slipped into an empty wooden coffin.
To his right are the waxwork models of evil sisters Margaret Higgins and Catherine Flanagan, who were responsible for killing up to 17 people to cash in their life insurance policies in the 1800s. On his left is a mannequin of Catherine Webster, who was hanged in Wandsworth jail in 1879 for murdering her boss.
The pictures were taken by British photographer Tony Prime when the Jackson 5 visited the UK in 1979.
A pal of the photographer said: "Jackson was fascinated by anything weird. He absolutely loved it. When he saw the coffins he just leapt over the barrier and got in the empty one."
ON THE WALLS: As Chaplin on streets of StockwellPrime was the only snapper with the Jacksons on a day they were doing interviews at London's Capital Radio station. It was there that a shy Jacko asked Tony if he was a Londoner because he wanted someone who could tell him where to buy the military-style jackets that were to become his trademark stage outfit.
Thrilled
Tony told him that there was a shop across the street from the radio station and took him there.
The singer then insisted his new friend come with him on a tour of London and both jumped into the white Rolls-Royce the Jacksons were travelling in. Jacko told Tony he was obsessed with Charlie Chaplin and asked him to show him where the comedian was born.
The snapper's pal added: "Jackson was fascinated by the life of Chaplin and wanted to know all he could about where the comic grew up.
SILENT PARTNER: Jacko with Charlie Chaplin model"Tony told him he would take him for a drive around and point out various places related to Chaplin. Then all of a sudden Jackson said he wanted to get dressed up as Chaplin so they took him out and bought him the clothes and a cane."
Then, dressed as his comic hero, Jacko posed on the streets of Stockwell in south London where the silent screen legend was born in 1889.
He was so thrilled with the pictures he asked Tony if he could have a set. The pal added: "It was just one of those magical one-off moments.
"They shared a few fun hours together and the pictures show that, but Tony never heard from him again.
