“Multiple people” could be charged in connection to Friends star Matthew Perry’s death from the acute effects of ketamine last year, according to a law enforcement source.
People reports that the source claimed the investigation into Perry’s death is “nearing its conclusion” and that law enforcement officials believe “multiple people” should be charged.
They also said that the US Attorney’s Office will make the final decision on whether or not to press charges.
A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office told The Independent they have “no comment” on the matter.
Almost seven months on from Perry’s death in October 2023, at the age of 54, an investigation was opened at both federal and local levels into who supplied the actor with the ketamine that led to his death.
The investigation into how Perry came to have so much ketamine involves the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the LAPD confirmed on Tuesday.
The DEA previously told The Independent that it “does not confirm or comment on ongoing investigations”. The Independent has also contacted USPS for comment.
On October 28, 2023, first responders found Perry unresponsive in the hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home. The actor was pronounced dead at the scene.
A toxicology report confirmed that he had died from “acute effects of ketamine”, which caused the actor to drown in the heated waters. Sources close to the actor said he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety.
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Yet his last infusion therapy was one and a half weeks before his death. The coroner noted that the ketamine in Matthew’s system “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is three to four hours, or less.”
His autopsy, released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery. It was listed as the primary cause of death, which was ruled an accident with no foul play suspected, the report said.
Drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects were listed as contributing factors to his death, according to the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Authorities are looking for the person who might have supplied a secondary source of the drug, and whether Perry received narcotics in the mail, according to TMZ which first broke the news.
Authorities believe they could assist them track down Perry’s ketamine dealer. No arrests have been made so far.
Federal postal inspectors will also leverage their tracking software, mail-related investigation tools and industry expertise as part of the investigation. Under USPIS guidelines, first-class letters and packages cannot be searched for drugs or seized, as they are protected under the Fourth Amendment and cannot be searched without a warrant.
Perry’s drug addiction spiraled following a jet ski accident in 1997, where he became addicted to Vicodin, a powerful opioid-based painkiller.
Throughout the course of his life, the actor said that he spent $9m on his quest for sobriety, went to 6,000 AA meetings, and entered rehab a total of 15 times, he wrote in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
By 2021, he said that he had overcome his addiction.