American music manager Joseph Jackson (center rear, standing) and his wife Katherine pose with their family beside the pool at their home, Encino, California, 1971. Pictured are, from left, Jackie, Michael (fore), unidentified, Joseph, Katherine, Marlon, La Toya (rear in red dress), Randy, Tito, Rebbie (standing in white shirt) and her daughter Stacee, Jermaine, and Janet Jackson. (Photo by John Olson/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
The shattered family of Michael Jackson gathered Saturday at the California home of patriarch Joe and pondered plans for the King of Pop’s funeral after his body was released by the coroner’s office.
The multi-platinum singer was brought to an undisclosed mortuary once the autopsy results were announced Friday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Jackson’s parents, famous siblings and three children were all inside the family compound in Encino, considering their next move after the singer’s sudden and stunning death Thursday.
A family friend told The Associated Press that the Jacksons were debating whether to hold a “Thriller”-scaled public funeral or a private memorial for the international superstar.
Details surrounding the death remained uncertain, although drugs – particularly the potentially lethal painkiller Demerol – were mentioned by family and friends as a possible cause.
The coroner’s office said it would take up to eight weeks to determine if Jackson had drugs in his system – and whether they caused his apparent heart attack. Foul play was ruled out by the autopsy.
Jackson’s parents, Joe and Katherine, brought the family together at their Tudor-style home in California after the tragedy.
The family moved to Encino when Michael was 11, escaping their hardscrabble roots in industrial Gary, Ind. Jackson, 50, collapsed in his rented Los Angeles home in front of Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who worked with the singer. Murray – who had a history of financial problems – was hired as part of the tour entourage for Jackson’s 50 shows in London.
Randy Phillips, president of tour promoter AEG Live, said the doctor was brought aboard at Jackson’s insistence.
“Michael said he had a rapport with him,” Phillips said.
Although police impounded Murray’s car as part of the investigation, he has cooperated with authorities and is not considered a criminal suspect.
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