Did Bobby Kennedy MURDER Marilyn Monroe? Truth behind LAPD file's shocking claims
Legendary actress Marilyn Monroe's tragic death continues to baffle people even 60 years later. The Hollywood siren died from a drug overdose on August 4, 1962, at just 36 years of age. Though an inquest ruled her death to be a suspected suicide, for decades there had been conspiracy theories about it, with people speculating that she was murdered. And her alleged affair with former president John F Kennedy was also brought into the conversation about her life, struggles and unfortunate demise.
However, the latest book published by Douglas Thompson and Mike Rothmiller puts forth a more shocking claim, which is even substantiated by secret files from Los Angeles Police Department. Titled 'Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe', the book names JFK's brother Bobby Kennedy as Monroe's alleged murderer. Furthermore, it has been stated that Bobby himself poisoned Monroe's drink while actor Peter Lawford witnessed the entire episode. Co-author Mike Rothmiller, who happens to be a former Los Angeles police official, claims that Monroe was assassinated to protect the Kennedy clan.
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Did Bobby Kennedy kill Marilyn Monroe?
The video of Monroe sensually singing 'Happy Birthday Mr President' to JFK, just months before her death, is etched forever in the history of America. Donning a sequined and revealing rhinestone gown, she enthralled a shocked audience with her singing, with a voice quivering with eroticism. In fact, at that time, her performance was reported by a journalist as "making love to the president in the direct view of 40 million Americans". JFK can be spotted in the front row, seated beside his wife Jacqueline Kennedy.
At the event, Monroe was welcomed to the stage by actor Peter Lawford, who is remembered as the person standing behind her, to whom she hands over her lush ermine wrap, after seductively removing it. What is not known to many was that Lawford was a part of the Kennedy family, since he was married to JFK's sister Pat. According to Rothmiller's book, Lawford later confessed to watching the murder of Monroe at the hands of Bobby.
Robert 'Bobby' Kennedy was the US attorney-general at the time and was often spotted with his president brother JFK. At JFK's 45th birthday gala, organized 10 days prior to his actual birth date on May 29, Monroe was almost offered as a gift to the young president. According to the new book, "At the post-gala party, in a New York penthouse suite provided by a Hollywood studio boss, she danced five times with JFK’s brother Bobby, the US Attorney-General. But she left with President Kennedy and went via a basement corridor and a private elevator to his suite at the next-door Carlyle Hotel. Next day, she returned to California," reports DailyMail.
The same week, Monroe reportedly received a call from Lawford. He made the call from his home in the Kennedy Compound of Hyannis Port. His message to Monroe was curt and brutal — she was ordered to never see the president again and she must never try to contact him. Monroe died mysteriously within less than three months after the call.
As per Rothmiller's bombshell claim, Lawford broke down and confessed to the murder 20 years later. However, the story was never made public, because it was tactically suppressed from all levels. Rothmiller himself chose to maintain silence for decades fearing for his own life and well being of his family. Yet, four decades later, he decided to come forward with the shocking claim, while taking necessary precautions.
As a 27-year-old young, dynamic LAPD detective Rothmiller once got the chance to access files with names of famous personalities. As he took out JFK's folder, he reportedly found that it was cross-referenced with Monroe's folder as well as many mob bosses. Since he could not make photocopies discreetly, the former policeman claims that he took down notes from the files. Among the bundle of files, he found one marked 'confidential', titled 'Marilyn Monroe's Diary'. He believed it to be her original journal the 'little red book' the actress referred to time and again. Now comes the most shocking part.
The day before her death, on August 3, 1962, Monroe reportedly noted, "Peter said Robert will come tomorrow. I don't know if he will." Throughout her diary, Monroe had considered Bobby Kennedy as someone deeply in love with her, who would even leave his wife, Ethel, to marry her. Meanwhile, Bobby Kennedy was outwardly hailed as the ideal family man, being honored as 'Father of the Year' in 1962. He was a married man with seven children.
In her diary, Monroe reportedly wrote, "Bobby is gentle. He listens to me. He’s nicer than John... Bobby says he loves me and wants to marry me. I love him. John hasn’t called. Bobby called. Frank invited me to the lodge. He said it will be fun. He said never to mention Sam at the lodge. He’s Mafia." Here she meant Frank Sinatra by 'Frank' and Sam happened to be Sam Giancana, the head of the Chicago mob at the time.
In a later entry, she wrote, "They are not calling back. Bob and John used me. I told Peter they’re ignoring me. I’m not going to stand for that. I’m going to tell everyone about us." In another shocking entry, she mentions actor Jose Bolanos, saying, "I told Jose I’m going to tell the world about them. They used me. I’m not a whore. Jose said don’t tell anyone about this. It’s dangerous."
Around mid-July 1962, around a month before her death, Monroe is believed to have had an abortion on Bobby's orders. The new book exposes a dark side of Bobby, far from the intellectual politician he was perceived to be. He reportedly had regular drunken orgies with chorus girls and prostitutes at Peter Lawford's house. He was even infamous in those close circles as a 'groper'.
Rothmiller pieced together all the connecting information following one of his chance visits to Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion in 1982. There, he came across Peter Lawford and it immediately struck him that Lawford might have been the last living person to see Monroe on the evening of her death. The policeman chatted with the actor and left him his business card. A week later, Lawford called him in a paranoid manner. After the two secretly met at a park off Sunset Boulevard, he slowly opened up about the night.
Rothmiller countered Lawford after he narrated the official version of her death at first. According to DailyMail, the actress was raped by Sam Giancana at Frank Sinatra's lodge party in an intoxicated state. She was later sexually violated and even photographed in comprising positions, to keep as potential blackmail material. The following day, Sinatra bawled her out publicly, warning her strictly to never reveal her affair with the Kennedy brothers.
But, the Hollywood icon was not one to be silenced by alleged threats, abuse or violence. Lawford shared that on the day of her death, he accompanied Bobby to Monroe's home, to acquire her diary. When Monroe lost her temper and started waving a kitchen knife at Bobby, Lawford placated her and escorted Bobby out. The two men returned later that evening when a bigger brawl took place.
Monroe appeared dazed from the influence of some drugs or drink at the time Lawford and Bobby visited her in the evening. She fought with Bobby over and over again; the situation often escalating to physical confrontation. Later, Lawford calmed her down on the sofa while Bobby upended her drawers in search of the 'little red book'. As Bobby reportedly kept losing his temper, Lawford pleaded with him to leave before the neighbors called the police.
Around that time, Bobby went to the kitchen and appeared to be stirring a glass of water with a spoon, while pouring something into it. Lawford assumed it to be some sedative, but was snapped at by Bobby when he asked. Soon afterward, Bobby asked Monroe, "Drink this, you'll feel better." She complained of its unpleasant taste but reportedly finished the drink upon Bobby's urging. As she lay back, visibly groggy and drugged, the two men searched her house for the diary but failed to find it.
Soon, her voice appeared feeble and her words slurred, before the signs of life drained from her and her complexion turned waxen. As Lawford panicked, Bobby asked him to leave her there and then left the house. While they were leaving, LAPD detectives in plain clothes appeared at the door. Lawford later claimed that they found and secured her diary, and also disposed off the glass from which Monroe drank whatever Bobby had offered.
The book delves into further details about Monroe's death, autopsy reports and Bobby's alleged involvement. Rothmiller also reveals that Lawford's confession nearly cost him his life in August 1982. Barely weeks after Lawford told him "what really happened", a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire at him from a semi-automatic pistol. Rothmiller was hit in the back and side, and suffered spinal damage which he barely survived.
Lawford died in 1984 from alcoholism. Rothmiller admits that he always believed in his confession, which he also believes as the truth behind Monroe's death.