Bryn Curt James Hammond - A Case For Murder: Brittany Murphy Files

Bryn Curt JamesHammond

Series Editor: PaulKnappett

Copyright Miami FoxPublishing 2016

Published by Miami FoxPublishing at Smashwords

This e-book is licensedfor your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold orgiven away to other people. If you would like to share this bookwith another person, please purchase an additional copy for eachreader. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or itwas not purchased for your use only, then please return to yourfavourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN:978-0-9933509-1-7

www.miamifoxpublishing.co.uk

+ 44 (0)7731 881254

All testimony andinterviews in this book are reproduced verbatim. Although theauthor and publisher have made every effort to ensure that theinformation in this book was correct at the time of going to press,the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim anyliability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption causedby errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resultfrom negligence, accident, or any other cause. Brittany Murphy andSimon Monjacks deaths have been classified as being from naturalcauses and their cases have been closed. Any theories proposedherein are no more than conjecture until proven otherwise.

A Case forMurder features unsolved murders of celebrities and includessome of the most notorious crimes in history. Some of thesecelebrities were filming at the time of their death, while otherswere in their own homes and their death appears to be of naturalcauses, although murder hasnt been ruled out in the publics eye.The series will feature a look at the celebrities last days, thepeople in their lives and official papers which have not previouslybeen available in popular form.

Most of thesemurder cases closed after years of fruitless searching for suspectsor substantial evidence with leads coming to dead ends. However,some of them remain open, and even decades after the murdersauthorities are still attempting to identify what actuallyhappened. For now, though, they remain a mystery.

Each book hasbeen fully researched and offers the reader an educated look intothe mind of the star, with brand new interviews and illustratedwith contemporary story-telling for the selfie generation. Some ofthe subjects are familiar, others less known.

Further details areavailable at www.miamifoxpublishing.co.uk

Miami Fox Publishingwelcomes views and ideas on the A Case for Murder series. Wecan be e-mailed at submissions@miamifoxpublishing.co.uk

I t was a typicalTuesday morning, when I would be left a coffee at the side of thebed as my partner dashed off to work, Mimi, my princess, wouldavoid using the cat flap to get back into our home and climb theexterior to the property to knock on the balcony door, whileBeannie, my other princess, would be playing Amazon woman huntingfor a present to bring back to me, which I didnt relish. Aftergrumpily letting Mimi in Id slowly get ready just in time to hearthe staff arrive. Id pop out to the offices on our premises to seethem, have a quick coffee and catch up and then retreat to myprivate home office to work.

At around 11:00am the mail would arrive, which was always a delight as we weresent hundreds of check discs from studios all around the globe toreview in our publication; it was pretty much like Christmas everyday! Over the recent years we had noticed Brittany Murphys filmoutput decline and bypass the multiplex; in fact I hadnt seen adecent Murphy film since Sin City back in 2004. It was a saddemise of such a promising artist. Visually Murphy had undergone avery dramatic change. Her lips had been enhanced, which made herunrecognisable. Instead of watching the feature film you would betrying to spot if she was drooling or not. Her weight haddiminished and it was like watching Montgomery Burns in a wig withcollagen-filled lips.

Just to explainhow disheartened I was with her recent crop of films we often builta package for the studios when they took out advertising and wewould give them four pages of editorial and a review. If we hadfaith in the title we would give them a cover on the condition thatwe could have control over the photoshoot.

One title,which will remain nameless, was handed to us and they wanted totake a full page advert. The studio gave us exclusive images andaccess to a couple of the films cast.

That veryFriday, after the kids had gone to bed and I and my ex-partner hadfinished our takeaway and were consuming our alcoholic beverages, Ichecked out the film they wanted us to cover. It was unwatchable,and by the 30 minute mark we turned it off. It was uncomfortableviewing and Murphy wasnt suited to the role. It was as if she wasjust going through the motions to pick up her pay cheque.

I handed thecheck disc over to a member of my staff. I declined the exclusivecoverage offer made by the studio as we didnt feel the title wouldsit well with our readership, and no other magazine picked up theeditorial either. I was actually hopeful that the colleague I hadgiven the disc to would give it a favourable review; after all,this writer had given Killer Tomatoes Strike Back! a 4 outof 5 star review! To my surprise the 180 word review landed on mydesk with a nil rating.

Now I had threeoptions: dont include the review, print the review, upsetting thedistributor and losing the advertising spend, or lie and bump upthe rating.

Then it dawnedon me the distributor had placed the spend with an agent, aLondon-based company that was difficult on the best of days, andthe studios account handler was a total novice who didnt know hisarm from his elbow. The account handler made contact with us at therequest of the distributor, and after much toing and froing hedecided to put the spend elsewhere, giving me the satisfaction ofpulling all coverage on the title and consequently burying the filmwell and truly. When the DVD was finally released it flopped anddied a fast death, erasing it from Murphy fans memories.

It would thenbe a further year until I had the pleasure of meeting her as shefaced the heavy glare of paparazzi lights at the flawless vodkapremier of Across the Hall in December 2009 at LaemmlesMusic Hall in Beverly Hills.

FILE 01
A DEATH AT 1895 RISING GLEN ROAD

Well, there werethree of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.
- Diana, Princess of Wales

T here were significant aromas in the Murphy residence the stench of perspiration, espresso long past its enzymaticbrowning, cigars and damp rotting wood. Brittany Murphys 8,000square foot home with 0.75 acres was a large multi-storeyMediterranean property situated in a built-up residentialneighbourhood in the Hollywood Hills, at the tail end of RisingGlen Road, a stones throw from West Hollywood.

Murphy and herhusbands bedroom was located at the southern portion of theresidence; darkness leaked from the room, gone was the propertysheart, and death, deception and secrets echoed silently down thehalls, creeping like a fox in the night. Microscopic plant-likeorganisms were spreading inch by inch in the makeshift prison.Hyphae were among the unwanted guests remodelling the home, turningit into their very own kingdom of fungi!

Through theover-cluttered sitting room was Murphys final place of rest, whichwould have been otherwise spacious if it wasnt for the mountain ofclothes, make-up, perfumes, an oxygen machine and medical supplies;it was a ready-made drugstore. The large bed was stained and thesheets twisted and drenched in sweat. Flanking each side of the bedwere nightstands covered in personal items such as Murphysjournal, half-drunk bottles of water, prescription medicationbottles, some open and some empty, and used tissues were strewnalongside the bottles. Magazines were piled up, with pages rippedfrom them. It was a mess! Not even the scent of Coco Mademoiselle,ginger and lemon could cut the deathly scent that was starving thehome of oxygen. Then the silence was broken...