Brittany Murphy Was Murdered, Half-Brother Insists

When Brittany Murphy died a decade ago, no foul play was suspected. Instead her death was chalked up to pneumonia and drug intoxication, but the actress' half-brother has different ideas.

Tony Bertolotti is convinced she was murdered at her Beverly Hills home on December 20, 2009. For years he has been trying to understand what happened that fateful night and now he has come forth with his ideas in an interview with The Daily Mail.

"I think Brittany was taken out," he stated. "Who killed Brittany? She didn't die of natural causes."

Murphy is believed to have been at home with her mother and husband, Simon Monjack, the day that she died. She collapsed in the bathroom and was later pronounced dead after being rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. 

Several weeks later Monjack died from similar causes- a fact that has fueled Tony's conspiracy theory.

"If you look at it from a distance, it's like here's this young lady, a fairly healthy girl, she's home with her supposed husband and mother, and she died. How absurd is it?"

Bertolotti said he has "spent years looking at this" and suppressing his anger. He could not understand why, if Murphy was not alone at home that night, nobody could take her to the hospital just four miles away.

"It's only in Hollywood that it's considered another day at the zoo," he said.

Murphy's death has always been shrouded in mystery. There has been no evidence of murder but this has not stopped speculation.

In 2012 her father, Angelo Bertolotti, reportedly attempted to sue the coroner’s office and L.A. police department. He believed investigations into his daughter's death had been botched but his case was dismissed after he failed to follow up on his charges. 

Tony said Angelo believed Murphy's husband was a negative influence on his daughter, which may have led to her death. Monjack was allegedly deep in debt and involved in bad business dealings.

"I don't know what business decisions they were making at that time, but it [the deaths] sounds business-related to me," Tony said. "I've heard all sorts of crap, so what is true? I don't believe the drugs line that much, I don't buy it. I'm sure there was experimentation. But Brittany was conservative with that stuff, she was a bright girl."

At the end of the day, Tony is convinced that money was central to Murphy's death.

"Sometimes an actress is worth more dead than alive," he said. "You've got to look at who's collecting the money now? I don't know. Every time the movie comes on, someone is getting paid. Whoever's got the money knows the truth."

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