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LAS VEGAS: Michael Jackson's deathbed doctor waited over an hour to call for help when he realised the pop star wasn't breathing, and could not be found for hours afterward, according to a search warrant unsealed Friday.
The documents, which police filed to support their request to search a Las Vegas pharmacy in August, provide new insight into what went on at his Los Angeles mansion on June 25 when the 50-year-old "King of Pop" went into cardiac arrest and died.
The warrant states that personal physician Conrad Murray of Las Vegas told authorities in interviews days after the death that he administered the powerful anesthetic propofol only after trying many other medications to help Jackson sleep, and after Jackson's "repeated demands/requests" for the drug.
Jackson then went into cardiac arrest within 20 minutes of that injection, while Murray had stepped out for a bathroom break, the doctor told authorities in an interview a few days after the death.
By Murray's own account to police, he did not call for help until 12:22 pm, more than an hour after he realised Jackson wasn't breathing.
Phone records showed Murray on his mobile for 47 minutes with three different callers from 11:18 am to 12:05 pm, a period during which Murray said he was conducting CPR.
"Murray did not mention this to the interviewing detectives," the document stated. Police have not disclosed to whom they believe Murray spoke in those calls.
Police found pill bottles for at least eight different sedatives by Jackson's bed or in his home and, in executing the pharmacy warrant, traced the origin of the propofol to a purchase by Murray at Applied Pharmacy Services in Las Vegas on May 12.
Murray, 56, has not been charged with a crime, but the details in the unsealed documents show authorities were suspicious of his behavior even as they took Jackson to UCLA Medical Center to try to revive him.
Murray was asked to sign the death certificate but vanished from the hospital premises.
"Upon arrival at UCLA Medical Center, neither the coroner's investigators nor detectives could locate Murray to re-interview him," according to the documents, and repeated attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
- AFP/yb
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