On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson reportedly begged his personal physician Conrad Murray for drugs to help him sleep — including propofol — leading to the King of Pop's sudden demise.
ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoMichael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the superstar’s death.
Conrad Murray was once a respected physician, until the day Michael Jackson died while under his care. On June 25, 2009, the world was stunned when the King of Pop suddenly perished at the age of 50 in his Los Angeles home. Paramedics raced Jackson to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, but there was nothing doctors could do to save him.
The investigation into Jackson’s death revealed that Murray had given the pop star numerous drugs to help him sleep, including the powerful anesthetic propofol, which is not meant to be used outside of a hospital or a clinic setting. Ultimately, this created a “lethal mix,” and so Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the pop star’s demise in 2011.
But even though Murray was sentenced to four years in prison, he only ended up serving two years behind bars. And after he was released, he insisted that Jackson was responsible for his own death.
Conrad Murray’s Early Life And Career
Conrad Murray was born on Feb. 19, 1953, in St. Andrews, Grenada. As a young child, he lived with his grandparents, who were farmers, before moving to Trinidad and Tobago at age seven to be with his mother, Milta.
Life wasn’t easy, but he found inspiration in his father — a doctor who dedicated his life to helping the poor. Murray didn’t meet his father until he was 25, but this late encounter still shaped his professional life.
Determined to become a doctor, Murray eventually moved to the United States to study medicine. He attended Texas Southern University, followed by Meharry Medical College in Tennessee. He completed additional training at other medical centers, ultimately deciding to specialize in cardiology.
By 2000, he had opened up his very own private practice in Las Vegas. He opened another practice in Houston in 2006, pledging to serve both wealthy and impoverished patients who needed his assistance.
But while his medical career was on the rise, his personal and financial struggles started to pile up, including unpaid debts and child support.
Meeting — And Treating — Michael Jackson
Wikimedia CommonsMichael Jackson in Las Vegas in 2003, just a few years before he met Conrad Murray.
Conrad Murray first met Michael Jackson in 2006. Jackson was in Las Vegas with his daughter, Paris, when she suddenly became ill. A member of Jackson’s inner circle knew Murray and called him in to treat her. Murray’s care impressed Jackson, and the two men formed a friendship.
As their bond grew, Jackson began to trust Murray with his own health. When Jackson started preparing for his This Is It concert residency in London in 2009, he wanted Murray by his side as his personal doctor. Jackson offered him $150,000 per month — an offer too good to refuse.
At the time, Murray’s financial situation was dire. He had fallen $100,000 behind on his mortgage on his Las Vegas home, and his debts were growing. According to NBC News, he had fathered at least seven children with six different women. Several of the mothers had taken him to court over unpaid child support, adding even more pressure to his strained finances.
The new deal with Jackson seemed like the perfect solution to Murray’s problems — until one fateful night after a This Is It rehearsal.
Inside Michael Jackson’s Shocking Death
Los Angeles Police DepartmentThe bedroom where Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
In the early hours of June 25, 2009, Conrad Murray was the only person with Michael Jackson when tragedy struck. For weeks, the doctor had been giving Jackson, who had long suffered from insomnia, various drugs to help him sleep at night. Notably, one was the powerful anesthetic propofol.
Though propofol is meant to be used only in hospitals and clinics — and not in a patient’s home — Jackson had become so familiar with propofol thanks to Murray that Jackson had given it the nickname “milk.”
Murray later claimed that he was trying to wean Jackson off the drug. On the night of Jackson’s death, he gave him a number of milder drugs to help with insomnia, including Valium, the sedative midazolam, and the anti-anxiety medication lorazepam. But Jackson reportedly kept begging for propofol.
According to Murray, Jackson said, “Please, please, give [me] some milk so that I can sleep, because I know that this is all that really works for me… Just make me sleep.” Eventually, Murray gave in.
Just moments later, after Murray said that he stepped away briefly to use the bathroom, Jackson stopped breathing.
Murray attempted to resuscitate the King of Pop and called for help, but neither he nor the paramedics who arrived were able to save him. Jackson was soon declared dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The world was shocked at the loss, and all eyes quickly turned to Murray.
The doctor claimed that he had only been trying to help his “friend,” but the facts told a different story. He had given Jackson a powerful drug in an inappropriate setting and then left him alone soon afterward. A coroner soon determined that Jackson had died from cardiac arrest brought on by acute propofol intoxication, and the coroner ruled his death a homicide.
Conrad Murray’s Conviction Of Involuntary Manslaughter In Michael Jackson’s Death
In February 2010, Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s death, but he pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, his lawyers prepared to advance a theory that Jackson could have potentially injected himself with the fatal dose of propofol that killed him.
At Murray’s trial, which began in late September 2011, his lawyers suggested that Jackson could have also potentially swallowed multiple lorazepam tablets while Murray was not watching — perhaps in a desperate attempt to sleep better ahead of his fast-approaching concert residency.
Los Angeles Police DepartmentA mugshot of Conrad Murray.
Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that Murray was a reckless caregiver for giving Jackson a powerful anesthetic at home and failing to monitor him properly afterward. Not only had Murray apparently stepped away from him after administering the dose, but prosecutors said that records showed that Murray had also checked his email the morning Jackson died.
On Nov. 7, 2011, Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was later sentenced to four years in prison for the crime. The judge who sentenced him said, “Michael Jackson died not because of an isolated one-off incident, he died because of a totality of circumstances that are directly attributable to Dr. Murray. This is an unacceptable, egregious departure from an accepted standard of care — a disgrace to the medical profession.”
But ultimately, Murray was released after only about two years.
Conrad Murray’s Life After Prison
After his release from prison, Conrad Murray attempted to rebuild his life. Though his medical license was revoked in Texas and suspended in California and Nevada, he continued to see patients on a consultation basis.
Shockingly, in 2023, he opened up his own medical institute — DCM Medical Institute — in El Socorro, San Juan in Trinidad and Tobago.
Ever since his release from prison, Murray has defended his side of the story in interviews. In 2016, he even published a book titled This Is It!: The Secret Lives of Dr. Conrad Murray and Michael Jackson.
WENN Rights Ltd/Alamy Stock PhotoConrad Murray still maintains that he did nothing wrong.
In one interview, Murray declared: “I did not kill Michael Jackson. He was a drug addict. Michael Jackson accidentally killed Michael Jackson.”
In a later interview, Murray blamed paramedics for failing to save Jackson in time. Though the medics said Jackson was already “clinically dead” by the time he had arrived at the hospital, Murray insisted, “When he got to UCLA, they found evidence he was not dead, he was alive, he has signs of life.”
Although he maintains his innocence, Murray remains a controversial figure, often facing public backlash. While some believe he was just a doctor following orders — and some have even suggested bizarre conspiracy theories about Jackson’s demise — many others see him as the man responsible for the death of one of the world’s biggest stars.
After reading the story of Conrad Murray, take a look at Michael Jackson’s infamous Neverland Ranch. Then, go inside the shocking stories of Hollywood stage parents who exploited their own kids.
