ED Winter, coroner to Hollywood celebrities including Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy, has died aged 73.
Winter was the Los Angeles County Deputy Coroner and handled some of the largest celebrity death investigations.
He died Friday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, law enforcement sources told TMZ.
Some of Winter’s most high-profile cases included the deaths of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Brittany Murphy, Paul Walker, Tom Petty and Corey Haim.
Michael Jackson died of a lethal combination of prescription sedatives in June 2009.
Winter was immediately concerned after seeing injection sites in Jackson’s body, the outlet reports.
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The coroner later said that Jackson had enough Propofol in him “to put down a rhino or an elephant.”
Dr. Conard Murray, who was believed to have signed Jackson’s death certificate, “fleed” the hospital after the star was pronounced dead, Winter said.
Winter also noticed Jackson’s dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, who allegedly gave the star massive doses of Demerol almost daily, the outlet reports.
The late coroner eventually discovered that Jackson used 19 different aliases to procure drugs and that Klein was allegedly one of the main facilitators, according to the outlet.
However, Klein has not been charged with any crime related to Jackson’s death.
Murray, on the other hand, was convicted of manslaughter for accidentally overdosing Jackson with propofol, a strong surgical anesthetic.
Years after the King of Pop’s death, another famous singer, Whitney Houston, was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub in February 2012.
After Houston’s body was found, her family gathered near the death scene.
Winter was introduced to Houston’s cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, who said, “I know who Ed Winter is.”
The late coroner had become recognizable from his television appearances during major cases.
When Paul Walker was in a fatal car crash in November 2013, Winter appeared on TV to say the star “died instantly”, debunking reports that Walker was crying out for help.
Winter’s first case was the death of actress and model Lana Clarkson in February 2003.
She was murdered by record producer Phil Spector.
