LaToya Jackson has always been the most outspoken member of the famous Jackson family and after two weeks of silence, she has opened up about her belief that her brother Michael Jackson was murdered. The first hint that the family suspected foul play in Jackson’s June 25, 2009 death was their request for a second autopsy.
While the family awaits the results of toxicology reports and the completion of the investigation into who supplied the drugs that were discovered at Jackson’s rented Holmby Hills estate, LaToya broke her silence over the weekend.
In an interview with New of the World in London, LaToya bluntly claims, “Michael was murdered.” She believes that it was a conspiracy to get her brother’s money. She said he always feared that people were out to get him because of the music catalogue holdings that give him the publishing rights to most of the Beatle’s greatest hits. The value is estimated to be upwards of $500 million. LaToya believes her brother’s estate will be valued at $1 billion, while acknowledging that “he was worth more dead than alive.”
There is also the matter of approximately $1 million in cash and jewelry that the family suspects was removed from Jackson’s house in the hours after his death, amid the confusion of people coming and going. Family members including LaToya, Janet Jackson and Katherine Jackson went to Michael’s rented residence to oversee the moving of some of Michael’s possessions into a moving van. They were unable to find cash that he always had hidden for day to day expenses.
LaToya said that Michael told her he was going on a six month drug detox in preparation for his 50 concert comeback tour in London. She suspected that he was actually being given drugs by people who intentionally wanted him hooked. She said, “Michael had many needle marks on his neck and on his arms, and more about those will emerge in the next few weeks. But nothing has changed my mind that this was murder.”
Jackson’s sister said that the family tried to reach out to Michael recently but those who were in Jackson’s camp “tried to keep the family away at all times.” Joe Jackson apparently agrees with his daughter because he told ABC news on Friday, “I do believe it was foul play. I do believe that.”
LaToya said that the tragedy has brought them closer together as a family and they are determined to get to the bottom of his death.
View more photos of Janet and LaToya and Michael Jackson’s children below. More photos of the children available HERE and HERE.
Photos: WENN