BB King’s Death: Murder Investigation Launched by Clark County Coroner

BB King’s death is being investigated as murder after two of his daughters claimed the blues legend was poisoned.

Karen Williams and Patty King said BB King was given “foreign substances to induce his premature death” by his business manager Laverne Toney.

Lawyers for BB King’s estate said the claims are unfounded and disrespectful.

However, the possibility of homicide will now be investigated by the coroner and police in Nevada.

The Clark County Coroner’s office wrote on Twitter: “Our coroner takes jurisdiction over #BBKing body, performs autopsy.”

Coroner John Fudenberg told CNN that the initial autopsy results found “no evidence to substantiate the allegations” made by BB King’s daughters.

However, he added that full forensic results would take six to eight weeks to arrive.

BB King died in his sleep at his Las Vegas home on May 14, aged 89.

At the time, the musician’s doctor and the coroner said he had died of a series of small strokes connected to his Type 2 diabetes.

BB King’s daughters alleged that his personal assistant Myron Johnson and Laverne Toney gave him medication to induce diabetic shock.

The women added that “King was sequestered from all family members” in the week before his death, and that Laverne Toney and Myron Johnson were the only people with him.

Laverne Toney, who is the executor of BB King’s estate, shrugged off the daughters’ claims.

“They’ve been making allegations all along. What’s new?” she told the Associated Press.

A lawyer for BB King’s estate also dismissed the accusations as “ridiculous”.

Earlier this year, Patty King, Karen Williams and a third daughter, Rita Washington, went to court accusing Laverne Toney of neglect, but the case was dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

BB King’s funeral is scheduled to be held on Friday, May 29, in Mississippi.

The Clark County coroner said his investigation would not delay the service.