Marilyn Monroe – Suicide or Murder?

By Tina Fares, Staff Reporter and Miraya Aggarwal, Feature Editor

Suicide

August 5, 1962. The day that movie actress Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her own home in Los Angeles. According to History.com, she was discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room. They also explained how after a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.”

Hollywood was unable to give Monroe the happiness and validation she seeked.

According to abc News John W. Miner, who investigated Monroe’s death as a Los Angeles County prosecutor, Monroe’s psychologist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, played him secret audiotapes made by the star during one of her therapy sessions shortly before her death. In these recordings Monroe expressed her happiness and excitement regarding upcoming opportunities. The question that comes up is “Why would a woman who looked like her life was all finally coming together kill herself?” She bought her first house in California Brentwood, and was featured on the cover of Life magazine. ANd she was rehired for the film “ Something’s Got to Give” all positive events in her life. However, despite it looking like Monroe was finally getting her life together, most to this day believe she was an overdose victim who no longer found happiness in her life. 

Murder

According to the book ‘Conspiracy’ by Charlotte Greig, from the very start there were worrying circumstances when it came to the way Marilyn died. The book states that when Monroe’s body was found, where was the glass of water she would surely have needed if she had swallowed an overdose of sleeping tablets. Not only this but her body was unusually placed and arranged. In addition, No suicide note was found. There was also a suspicious delay in the time it took for the police and ambulance to be called. 

It is known that Monroe had been having an affair with John F. Kennedy around the time of her death. This was a major risk for Kennedy because it would have destroyed his life both politically and socially. With this being known, Monroe had been threatening to go public with the affair which gave the president a reason to murder her. At this point, no one really suspected that John F Kennedy had actually killed Marilyn. 

Some people witnessed that J.F Kennedy’s brother Robert Kennedy had visited Monroe the night of her death. It is also believed that Robert Kennedy and John F Kennedy were both having an affair with Marilyn Monroe at the same time. However, this theory does not have much evidence to support it. 

Marilyn Monroe’s loss still lives with us today, and the theories as to what happened and how these actions led to her death still remain unsealed.