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Coroner: Cause of Jackson death deferred

FILE - In this March 5, 2009 file photo, Michael Jackson announces that he is set to play ten live concerts at the London O2 Arena in July, which he announced at a press conference at the London O2 Arena. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, file)

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FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2007 file photo, pop star Michael Jackson poses on the red carpet during the RainbowPUSH Coalition Los Angeles 10th annual awards in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, file)

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FILE - In this Aug. 29, 1993 file photo, popsinger Michael Jackson performs during his "Dangerous" concert in National Stadium, Singapore. (AP Photo/C.F. Tham, file)

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Michael Jackson performs at Super Bowl XVII in Pasadena on Feb. 1, 1993.

By Otis Gowens 2:40 PM Friday, June 26, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey says determining the cause of Michael Jackson's death will require further tests that will take six to eight weeks.

Harvey says there were no signs of foul play or trauma to the body. He also says Jackson was taking some unspecified prescription medications.

The spokesman says Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter is with Jackson's family.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police investigating Michael Jackson's death looked into his medical treatment Friday, seeking to interview one of the pop king's doctors and seizing a car that they said may contain drugs or other evidence.

As medical examiners began an autopsy on Jackson, police towed a BMW from rented home "because it may contain medications or other evidence that may assist the coroner in determining the cause of death," police spokeswoman Karen Rayner said.

She said the car belongs to one of Jackson's doctors whom police wanted to interview. Rayner said she did not know the doctor's identity and stressed the doctor was not under criminal investigation.

The autopsy began Friday morning and was expected to last several hours. An official determination on cause of death was not expected for weeks or longer, until more sophisticated tests are completed.

In a 911 call released by fire officials, a caller reports Jackson was on a bed and not breathing or responding to CPR. The unidentifiedcaller said Jackson was with his personal doctor at the time.

"I need an ambulance as soon as possible, sir," the caller said urgently but politely. "We have a gentleman here that needs help and he's not breathing yet. He's not breathing and we need to — we're trying to pump him, but he's not, he's not."

The pop star died later Thursday afternoon at UCLA Medical Center.

As stores reported they were inundated with orders for Jackson's music, a chorus of grief for the megastar spread around the world, from statesmen to icons of music to legions of heartbroken fans.

"I can't stop crying. This is too sudden and shocking," said Diana Ross, who helped launch Jackson's career. "I am unable to imagine this. My heart is hurting."

Lisa Marie Presley, briefly married to the pop icon in the mid-1990s, said he had confided to her 14 years ago that he worried about facing the same tragic fate as her father, Elvis Presley, who died of a drug overdose at age 42.

"The world is in shock but somehow he knew exactly how his fate would be played out some day more than anyone else knew, and he was right," she wrote in a long, emotional statement on her MySpace page online.

The White House also weighed in for the first time, with a spokesman saying President Barack Obama saw Jackson as a spectacular performer and music icon whose life nonetheless had sad and tragic aspects. The House of Representatives observed a moment of silence.

Brian Oxman, a former Jackson attorney and a family friend, said Friday he had been concerned about Jackson's use of painkillers and had warned the singer's family about possible abuse.

"I said one day, we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson," Oxman said on NBC's "Today" show. "The result was, I warned everyone,and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."

Oxman claimed Jackson had prescription drugs at his disposal to help with pain suffered when he broke his leg after he fell off a stage and for broken vertebrae in his back.

After Jackson was acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005, prosecutors argued against returning to Jackson items including syringes, the drug Demerol and prescriptions for various drugs, mainly antibiotics, in different people's names.

Jackson died after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for three-quarter of an hours there before rushing him to the hospital.

His brother Jermaine said Jackson apparently suffered cardiac arrest, an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.

Jackson was preparing for a monster comeback bid — a series of 50 concerts that was to begin next month in London.

A handful of bleary-eyed fans camped out throughout the night with media outside the Jackson family house in the San Fernando Valley and near his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. People heading to work in New York stopped to pay respects outside Harlem's Apollo Theater, where Jackson performed as a child.

"When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God we're celebrating him now," Liza Minnelli told CBS' "The Early Show" by telephone.

A producer said Sunday's BET Awards would be dedicated to Jackson because of his influence on music and pop culture. And a screening of Universal Pictures' "Bruno" in Los Angeles on Thursday night cut a scene involving Jackson's sister La Toya.

Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer. His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," ''Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.

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