Brittany Murphy: 1977 - 2009
Brittany Murphy's parents are at odds over their daughter's cause of death.
Angelo Bertolotti, the 87-year-old reportedly estranged father of the deceased actress, submitted a hair sample for independent testing that revealed his daughter had abnormal amounts of heavy metals in her system at the time of death. This led some to speculate that the “Clueless” star could have been poisoned.
According to Radar Online, Bertolotti is also suggesting that Murphy, who was said to be convinced she was under surveillance in the weeks prior to her death, was targeted by government rogues mistrustful of her daughter’s support of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower and filmmaker/journalist Julia Davis.
In a statement to FOX411 on Wednesday, Davis said the raids were well-documented with video in her documentary trailer last year "Terror Within," and that DHS and its agents "explicitly admitted to their actions during videotaped sworn depositions and in court" and the case was also mentioned in her book and documentary.
"The raid was videotaped, and the DHS did use a Blackhawk and a Special Response team," Davis continued. "I was arrested and maliciously prosecuted not once, but twice. All charges were dismissed with a finding of factual innocence and a court order for the government to return the proceeds."
But Murphy's mom says its all hogwash.
In an open letter penned by Sharon Murphy in The Hollywood Reporter this week, she said she raised Brittany alone, and that Bertolotti only “came out of the woodwork” when Brittany found Hollywood success as a teen, and that both he and Davis have told “bold-faced lies in order to promote their products.”
“I am quite confident Brittany never cooperated with Julia Davis, never signed any statement in support of her, never met with her and barely knew she existed,” Murphy continued, adding that the journalist did once attempt to contact Brittany via her CAA agent, but all she got back was a letter informing her that their client knew nothing about her claims and would not meet with her.
Yet Davis assured us that Murphy and her husband Simon Monjack were targeted as a result of their relationship, which was ignited when the actress refuted false claims made against Davis as part of the "retaliation for (her) whistle blowing disclosure to the FBI." She said DHS attempted to deport Simon, and that he was "severely beaten and abused in custody," and that the case of alleged "marriage fraud" was only closed following Murphy's untimely death.
But adding more confusion to the mix, a source close to the late actress and her mom talked to FOX411 and backed Sharon Murphy's THR claims, and referred to the conspiracy theories as “ridiculous.”
In multiple interviews, Davis and Bertolotti have vowed that their relentless pursuit in unearthing the alleged “truth” behind Murphy’s death is to exonerate the young star from rampant rumors that she suffered from anorexia and was addicted to drugs. Bertolotti and Julia Davis are said to be working on a several projects aimed to shed more light on their argument: a book called “Britt,” and a documentary under the Fleur de Lis Film Studios shingle.
However, Davis and Bertolotti have since vehemently denied that they are promoting products, insisting that such a claim is "outrageously false" and that the book is now on the back burner as they pursue the death investigation further. Davis noted that the documentary released last year was with regards to her whistle blowing experiences, and not focused on Murphy's passing.
"Sharon is obviously attacking me simply because of my affiliation with AJ, whom she intensely hates," Davis continued. "We're currently working only on determining the true cause of death for Brittany and Simon."
Davis’s profile on Whistleblowers.org, operated by the National Whistleblowers Center, says she is a terrorism/immigration expert who reported improperly processed entries of 23 aliens from terrorist countries into the U.S. in 2004. The profile says that when DHS failed to act on this information, she embarrassed them by making a report to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and was subjected to intense retaliation, including alleged attempts to discredit her, and a commando-style raid on her Yucca Valley home based on a bogus claim she had committed marriage fraud – a raid Whistleblowers.org says employed a Blackhawk helicopter, Special Response Team, dozens of agents and a U.S. Marshal.
The alleged incident, which is said to have occurred in 2005, was documented in a Memo of Contentions of Fact and Law signed by Davis as part of a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the claimed attacks.
According to Davis: "The government settled my case against the DHS immediately before the trial, which in a legal sense means that the case was resolved in my favor. There are plenty of court records and videotaped depositions that corroborate information about my case."
While Bertolotti has something of a checkered past and according to court documents, was convicted of a racketeering and has spent time behind bars, insisted that he was not estranged from his late daughter as multiple reports and Sharon Murphy herself have suggested.
The Office of the Los Angeles Coroner determined in 2009 that Murphy, at age 32, suffered fatally from pneumonia and severe iron deficiency/anemia. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told us that whether or not the Murphy death case is re-opened is still in the hands of the Coroner’s office. A representative for the Coroner confirmed that the contents of Bertolotti’s letter will be discussed with the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner in the near future but there are no immediate plans to re-open the inquiry.