‘Multiple people’ may be charged in Matthew Perry’s ketamine death after police investigation: report
Police have new insight into Matthew Perry’s death after launching an investigation into his passing.
A law enforcement source told People Tuesday the investigation is “nearing its conclusion” — and authorities believe “multiple people” should be charged in connection with the “Friends” actor’s death last October.
The source said the US Attorney’s Office, which responded with “No comment” on Tuesday, will decide whether to press charges.
Perry was found dead at age 54 in the jacuzzi of his home in the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Oct. 28.
Initial reports indicated he had drowned, but a toxicology report confirmed he died from acute effects of ketamine. His manner of death was ruled accidental.
Drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects were listed as contributing factors.
In May, TMZ learned from law enforcement sources that authorities started an investigation into where Perry got the ketamine — and who provided him with the toxic drug.
Both local police and the Drug Enforcement Administration are involved in the investigation, per TMZ.
The Los Angeles Police Department launched an initial investigation into Perry’s death late last year, but it was closed in January.
According to Perry’s autopsy report, he had 3.54 micrograms per milliliter of ketamine, which is nearly three times the normal amount, in his bloodstream at the time of his death.
Ketamine expert and author Dr. Philip Wolfson told The Post in December that Perry had way too much ketamine in his system.
“He really did himself in. He must have taken a large amount. You don’t do this and go swimming or go into a pool of any sort,” said Wolfson.
Perry was open about his decades-long battle with addiction in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
He revealed in the book that he received ketamine infusions while in a Swiss rehab clinic during the pandemic.
“Ketamine was a very popular street drug in the 1980s. There is a synthetic form of it now, and it’s used for two reasons: to ease pain and help with depression,” he said, adding, “Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’ “
Perry described the drug as a “giant exhale,” and explained he would “disassociate” during his infusions and often felt as if he were “dying.”
“ ‘Oh,’ I thought, ‘This is what happens when you die,’ ” he said in his book. “Yet I would continually sign up for this s–t because it was something different, and anything different is good.”
Perry’s autopsy revealed he received his last ketamine treatment a week and a half before his death.
Perry famously starred in the iconic role of Chandler Bing for all 10 seasons of “Friends” from 1994 to 2004.
His five former co-stars — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc — paid their respects when he was laid to rest in the Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills in November.
The service was also attended by his dad, John Bennett Perry, mom Suzanne Perry, and stepfather Keith Morrison, as well as his sisters and loved ones.
Last month, Cox revealed on “CBS News Sunday Morning” that the late star still “visits” and “guides” her.
“I think he’s probably one of the funniest human beings in the world. He’s just so funny,” Cox, 60, said at the time. “He is genuinely a huge heart. Obviously struggled.”
“I’m so thankful I got to work so closely with him for so many years. He visits me a lot, if we believe in that,” she went on. “I do sense — I sense Matthew’s around for sure.”
