I talk about this episode and its conclusions, so if you think such a show can be "spoiled" then - Warning: spoilers.
I saw the entire episode some years ago and again recently on YouTube.
The tenor of the program suggests to me that even though they apparently went to great lengths to create a realistic simulation, this was done more to convince and less to investigate.
What I found most suspicious was their use of a bottle with a hydrochloric acid solution spinning around to "simulate" her stomach. When this dissolved the pills within a critical time frame, this "proved" that it was normal that there were no pill residues in her stomach during the autopsy. A coroner they interviewed had (he said) autopsied 2,000 deaths by barbiturate overdose. No mention about residues from him, yet this would have had a great deal more value than that simulated stomach.
I was also bothered by their having some shrink arguing that the barrenness of her room - no pictures, no adornments - suggested a suicidal frame of mind (a possible alternative explanation could be that she grew up in such deprivation that she never developed a taste for these adornments, another explanation could be that she had recently moved in). The mention that she had been fired from "Something's Gotta Give" without adding that she had just been rehired was downright dishonest. The way they used the poker to break the window suggests that yes, even though there was glass on the outside, it is possible that it was broken from the outside - but this point requires a more detailed investigation as to the pattern of glass there, so I thought this shallow. There was no drinking glass in her room, yet they show their "Marilyn" drinking from a plastic water bottle to swallow the pills (so much for realism!). I have read but so far can't confirm that she did NOT have a working lock on her door. There are a number of points the program did not investigate.
After watching this, I felt that the "investigation" was fitting the argument to the conclusion that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. While it's possible that she did, I think the other possibilities - murder or accidental overdose - are more likely.
A human being who overcame far more adversity than the great majority of us deserves better than to receive a definitive verdict of throwing in the towel on the basis of such a dishonest "investigation." Let's just agree that this History is still Unsolved.
I saw the entire episode some years ago and again recently on YouTube.
The tenor of the program suggests to me that even though they apparently went to great lengths to create a realistic simulation, this was done more to convince and less to investigate.
What I found most suspicious was their use of a bottle with a hydrochloric acid solution spinning around to "simulate" her stomach. When this dissolved the pills within a critical time frame, this "proved" that it was normal that there were no pill residues in her stomach during the autopsy. A coroner they interviewed had (he said) autopsied 2,000 deaths by barbiturate overdose. No mention about residues from him, yet this would have had a great deal more value than that simulated stomach.
I was also bothered by their having some shrink arguing that the barrenness of her room - no pictures, no adornments - suggested a suicidal frame of mind (a possible alternative explanation could be that she grew up in such deprivation that she never developed a taste for these adornments, another explanation could be that she had recently moved in). The mention that she had been fired from "Something's Gotta Give" without adding that she had just been rehired was downright dishonest. The way they used the poker to break the window suggests that yes, even though there was glass on the outside, it is possible that it was broken from the outside - but this point requires a more detailed investigation as to the pattern of glass there, so I thought this shallow. There was no drinking glass in her room, yet they show their "Marilyn" drinking from a plastic water bottle to swallow the pills (so much for realism!). I have read but so far can't confirm that she did NOT have a working lock on her door. There are a number of points the program did not investigate.
After watching this, I felt that the "investigation" was fitting the argument to the conclusion that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. While it's possible that she did, I think the other possibilities - murder or accidental overdose - are more likely.
A human being who overcame far more adversity than the great majority of us deserves better than to receive a definitive verdict of throwing in the towel on the basis of such a dishonest "investigation." Let's just agree that this History is still Unsolved.
