Michael Jackson's longterm family friend Brian Oxman has hinted the icon was killed by an abuse of prescription drugs - likening his death to tragic star Anna Nicole Smith.
The legendary superstar was pronounced dead this afternoon (25Jun09) at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after falling into a deep coma, following a heart attack.
A coroner for the medical facility has confirmed the Thriller hitmaker died after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The star's family, including his mother, brothers and sister LaToya, rushed to his bedside, but were too late to say their goodbyes.
And lawyer Oxman has revealed the atmosphere on the ward is one of devastation - insisting his family are too upset to even confirm the sad news.
He told CNN news, "Michael Jackson is my friend and I am just heartbroken.
"Everyone is rather speechless. The atmosphere is so very sad. I can't tell you what has taken place, but everyone is very stunned.
"I saw Randy and Jermaine and I hugged them. I cried with them. No one will confirm anything to me. All I can tell you is that the family members are crying.
"LaToya, Jermaine and Randy are at the hospital. They are in a room by themselves and they are sobbing."
But Oxman, a longterm pal of the Jackson clan, is adamant the Thriller singer's death is down to the people who surrounded the star.
He claims that the superstar family have been desperately trying to "take care" of their fragile relative, and he was in perfect health until recently.
And Oxman believes an "abuse of medications" is the reason for his untimely demise.
He explains, "I believe (his manager) Frank DiLeo was with him at the time (of his heart attack), that is what I have been told.
"This family has been trying for months and months and months to take care of Michael Jackson. The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him.
"If you think the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, that is nothing compared to what has taken place in the life of Michael Jackson.
"I do not know what medications he was taking, but the reports that we have received within the family are that they were extensive.
"I don't know the cause of all this. But this is something that I feared. This is a case of abuse of medications, unless the cause is something else."