Actress Brittany Murphy’s Death Continues to Raise Questions Among Experts

Brittany Murphy, a rising Hollywood actress, died in 2009 of pneumonia. She was only 32 years old. The star’s mysterious death has been the subject of much conjecture over the years.

Medical and forensic expert, Dr. Cyril Wecht weighed in on the story before Tuesday’s premiere of Brittany Murphy: An ID Mystery.

“The questions I had were: How could an intelligent, educated, young adult in a house living with her husband and her mother — how could she have died so suddenly from pneumonia and not have sought medical care?” Wecht asked.

The doctor believes that Murphy died from untreated pneumonia and “very significant iron deficiency anemia.”

In 2013, Murphy’s father Angelo Bertolotti presented Wecht with Murphy’s hair test, which showed the presence of ten heavy metals in the actress’s body. However, Wecht doesn’t believe Murphy’s death was a case of intentional poisoning. “This is someone who for some reason was not taking care of herself. She apparently was not well,” Wecht said.

Murphy’s husband, Simon Monjack, died just five months after the actress. His death was similarly attributed to acute pneumonia and severe anemia. Wecht called Monjack “a very sick guy.”

“I just find it absolutely incredulous, totally incomprehensible that these people with all the means in the world to properly take care of themselves, live as they did and failed to acquire appropriate medical care that would have saved their lives,” he said.

ID’s documentary on Murphy is a part of ID Presents: Nine at 9. New specials are running nightly on Investigation Discovery at 9 p.m. EST.

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