Matthew Perry's death investigation officially closed by California police
Originally appeared on E! Online
The police case surrounding Matthew Perry’s death has been closed.
Investigators will no longer be looking into the matter three months after the Friends alum was found dead in the hot tub of his home, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to People.
His case with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner is now also closed, per online records reviewed by E! News.
One day before Matthew Perry was tragically found dead at his California home, he went out for lunch with new friend Athenna Crosby. After TMZ published a photo of their outing and Athenna was identified, she came forward. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Athenna shares details about their day out, saying that the television icon was in a “happy, positive mood” and displayed “no warning signs.”
Perry’s death was determined to be caused by “the acute effects of ketamine,” the department stated in a December press release. Contributing factors were listed as drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug commonly used to treat opioid use disorder.
His manner of death was ruled to be an accident.
In an autopsy report obtained by E! News, the coroner said “high levels” of ketamine—which Perry took as part of his therapy to treat depression and anxiety—were found in his blood. The document noted that the “main lethal effects” from the medication would be cardiovascular overstimulation and slowed breathing.
Matthew Perry: A Life in Pictures
Perry had underwent ketamine infusion therapy over a week before he died, per the autopsy report. However, the coroner said trace amounts of the medication were detected in his stomach when he died, which “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.”
There were no evidence of alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP or fentanyl in Perry’s system, according to the report, which noted that the Fool’s Rush In actor was “reportedly clean for 19 months” at the time of his death.
Perry was laid to rest in November at a funeral attended by his Friends costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” they said joint statement to E! News in the wake of his passing. “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”