Soon after blues legend B.B. King passed away on Thursday, May 14 of this year, his daughters Karen Williams and Patty King cried foul play. They specifically accused King’s business manager LaVerne Toney and personal assistant Myron Johnson of poisoning the bedridden musician, and preventing them from seeing him in his final hours. To help their case, they sought the help of Las Vegas homicide detectives.
According to the Associated Press, however, the late blues guitarist and singer wasn’t poisoned:
Medical examiners found no evidence to prove the allegation that blues legend B.B. King was poisoned before he died of natural causes in May, according to autopsy findings made public Monday.
As it turns out, the “natural causes” from which King died were an unfortunate combination of Alzheimer’s disease, coronary disease, heart failure and type 2 diabetes. Otherwise, tests conducted by the medical examiners found no evidence whatsoever of any foreign substances administered to King during his final moments.
Toney and Johnson’s lawyer, Brent Bryson later told the AP:
“Ms. Toney and Mr. Johnson are very happy that these false and fictional allegations that were made against them by certain of Mr. King’s children have been dispelled,” Bryson said. “Hopefully we can now focus on the body of musical work that B.B. King left the world, and he can finally rest in peace.”
As a result, there’s no longer an active investigation into the blues musician’s death.
