<<< Dr. Conrad Robert Murray.
NEW YORK, NY, Mon. June 29, 2009: The cardiologist who was on Saturday questioned by police investigating the death of musical legend, Michael J. Jackson, was reportedly born in Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr. Conrad Robert Murray, 51, was born in San Juan, Trinidad and migrated with his family to the U.S. when he was in fifth standard, according to Trinidad Express reports.
Murray and his family reportedly were born and grew up at Bagatelle Road Extension in San Juan in the 1960s and attended the Febeau Government Primary School on Saddle Road, the paper quoted sources as saying.
The Express also says Murray had helped set up the Cardiac Cauterisation Lab at the St Clair Medical Centre in St. Clair.
Murray was with Jackson at the time he reportedly went into cardiac arrest. Speculation is rife that Jackson may have taken a cocktail of prescription drugs that may have sent him into cardiac arrest.
Police in Los Angeles spoke to the doctor over the weekend as they continue to piece together the possible cause of death of the 50-year-old singer. But police insist he is not a suspect and so far there is no apparent foul play.
Jackson`s family now want to speak with Murray, according to Rev. Jesse Jackson. Reports indicate that Jackson had insisted that his concert promoter AEG Live hire Murray, who had been living with Jackson for two weeks, and was present when he collapsed and stopped breathing. The lawyer for the doctor, Edward Chernoff, also said that Jackson was already unconscious when the doctor entered his bedroom and that he `wasn’t breathing.`
He described it as `fortuitous` that the doctor went to see Jackson on the second floor of his rented home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. He also declined that the doctor gave any drugs to Jackson.
Murray is a 1989 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. He filed for bankruptcy in Riverside, California in 1992, and is reported to have had judgments filed against him or his company totalling over $435,000. He got to know Jackson last year after treating him for a cold in Las Vegas.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Murray was performing CPR on Jackson when paramedics arrived at his home Thursday, and Murray`s car was later towed by police from the home.
`We do not consider him to be uncooperative at this time,` said police Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, noting that detectives spoke with the doctor after Jackson`s death. `We think that he will assist us in coming to the truth of the facts in this case.`
Funeral arrangements for Jackson are still up in the air. Last night, BET Awards paid tribute to the singer as his father, who he had accused of child abuse, sat in the audience with Rev. Al Sharpton.
Jackson is survived by three children and several brothers and sisters. The mother of the two older children, Debbie Rowe, is now claiming Jackson was not the biological father of the kids.
