Arrests have been made in the death investigation of “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, two law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.
The arrests come nearly a year after the 54-year-old actor was found unresponsive in the jacuzzi at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on October 28, 2023. toxicology report released by the Los Angeles County medical examiner attributed Perry’s cause of death to the “acute effects of ketamine,” with contributing factors including “drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine effects.” Buprenorphine is a drug used to treat opioid use disorders.
At the time, the medical examiner said Perry’s death was accidental and there were no signs of foul play. But months later, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that there was an open criminal investigation into the actor’s deathwhich was to be assisted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Trace amounts of ketamine were found in Perry’s stomach, according to the autopsy report, but the amount detected in his bloodstream was the same as what would be used for general anesthesia.
At the time of his death, Perry had been undergoing medically supervised ketamine treatments for depression and anxiety. According to the autopsy report, his last prescribed ketamine treatment was a week and a half before his death.
The report also noted that Perry’s cause of death was not linked to his previous sessions of ketamine infusion therapy because the half-life of the drug is only three to four hours. So the ketamine was taken in a different way, according to the report.
The sudden death of Perry, known for his role as Chandler Bing on “Friends,” sent shock waves through Hollywood.
Perry had been vocal about her struggles with addiction, addressing them in her best-selling memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. The book was released two years before he died.