Matthew Perry’s assistant saw him last and conveyed his dying words. The actor’s death was first ruled accidental, but shocking new evidence led to multiple arrests.
Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing on “Friends,” was a beloved actor. After “Friends,” he appeared in “Ally McBeal” and was nominated for Emmys on “The West Wing” and “The Ron Clark Story.”
Perry has discussed his melancholy and addiction throughout his life, despite his brilliant career.
In his biography, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry described how these battles began and nearly killed him.
Perry opened up about his addiction in an October 2022 ABC interview. His addiction was unrelenting, “Your disease is just outside just doing one-arm push-ups, just waiting, just waiting for you, just waiting to get you alone, because alone, you lose to the disease,” he added.
By then, Perry had attended 6,000 AA meetings, spent 30 years in therapy, gone to 15 rehabs, and spent half his life in treatment or sober living.
He also said that he underwent 65 detoxes and 14 surgeries after a near-fatal medical emergency years before. His colon ruptured, needing emergency surgery, which was scary.
I was on ECMO. An ECMO machine is a Hail Mary, say doctors. Perry said, “I was the only one who survived,” after five individuals were put on an ECMO machine that night.
His decline began in 2000, when he was at his most famous thanks to “Friends.” After months of isolation, he turned to drug dealers.
After being injured in “Fools Rush In,” opposite Salma Hayek, Perry began taking pharmaceutical medicines. The situation progressed with 40 more Vicodin pills sent to his residence.
Perry developed a 12-pill-a-day addiction after believing drugs may help him drink.
The star tried quitting cold turkey, but his body had developed a tolerance and required extra drugs to manage withdrawal symptoms.
He took 55 Vicodin tablets everyday as his addiction progressed. Perry said he was afraid of becoming sick without the drugs.
The “17 Again” star, who featured opposite Zac Efron, saw many doctors and faked migraines to get more medications. He acknowledged to stealing drugs from Sunday open houses.
Perry was reportedly drowned in 2023, despite his 2022 interview claims.
Perry died tragically on October 28, 2023, in the morning. Before going home to Los Angeles, he played two hours of pickleball.
From home in the morning, Perry despatched his aide on an errand. The assistant returned two hours later and found the star unresponsive, calling 911.
After a cardiac arrest report, first responders arrived. Law enforcement officials said Perry drowned in his private jacuzzi.
Police reported no foul play and no narcotics at the scene. It was unclear if Perry’s pre-death activities contributed to his demise.
But two months later, an inquiry uncovered what may have caused his death. Los Angeles Police Department released the autopsy report in May 2024.
The autopsy on December 15, 2023, found Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” the LAPD said on X.
The Los Angeles County Coroner postmortem report said the actor was clean for 19 months before his death. Perry last had ketamine infusion therapy “one and a half weeks before” his death, according to the study.
The coroner stated that “the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours or less.”
A “dissociative anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects,” ketamine can “distort perception of sight and sound, create a sense of disconnection, and induce sedation, immobility, pain relief, and amnesia,” according to the DEA.
The autopsy found that Perry died from acute drug effects. Drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine, an opioid addiction treatment, also contribute. His death was accidental.
Coroner’s findings said he died from a “unknown route of drug intake.” The autopsy discovered prescription medicines and loose pills in Perry’s residence, but “none reported near the pool,” and no narcotics were “found adjacent to the pool.”
After the Medical Examiner’s findings, the LAPD, DEA, and USPS escalated their investigation into Perry’s death.
Authorities found foul play in the Los Angeles native’s death, changing the investigation. On August 15, 2024, numerous people were arrested after this discovery.
Perry’s death was linked to the arrest of a San Fernando Valley doctor and drug dealer by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Five people, including two doctors, are charged with providing ketamine to the actor in the weeks before his death.
Jasveen Sangha, “The Ketamine Queen,” and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, “Dr. P,” are charged. Sangha faces conspiracy and drug distribution charges for delivering Perry’s fatal ketamine.
Plasencia is accused of ketamine distribution and evidence tampering. Three more people have been charged with Perry’s death.
Erik Fleming, 54, acknowledged to providing 50 vials of ketamine to Perry’s aide, Kenneth Iwamasa, days before the actor’s death.
Iwamasa, 59, pled guilty to injecting Perry with ketamine many times, including on his deathbed. Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, from San Diego pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Dr. Salvador Plasencia and obtaining more fraudulently.
Perry received huge ketamine injections from Dr. Plasencia at home. Plasencia texted Dr. Mark Chavez, calling Perry names, according to court filings. The texts said, “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” and “Let’s [sic] find out.”
EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Perry's longtime live-in assistant Kenny Iwamasa, 59, injected Friends star with the ketamine that killed him https://t.co/ZUcFwtar8r pic.twitter.com/xyAdcz3g5m
— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) August 15, 2024
Plasencia faces federal accusations of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, ketamine distribution resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and falsifying records. Pleaded not guilty to all allegations.
Perry died because these defendants put profit over his well-being, according to authorities. The case shows police’s determination to punish narcotics dealers.
Despite the claims, Plasencia and Chavez can still prescribe drugs with active medical licenses.
Both doctors’ licenses remain unrestricted after the California State Medical Board investigated them.
The Board stated that “both licenses are current and active and the Board has not imposed any restrictions on them.”
Perry lived in a Beverly Hills mansion with his Japanese aide, Iwamasa, until his death a few weeks later.
The showbiz figure rented the three-bedroom hillside residence with Beverly Hills and ocean vistas for $49,000 per month while renovating his $6 million Pacific Palisades home.
According to his LinkedIn page, Iwamasa managed Perry’s affairs for 25 years and lived with him at the rented property.