Marilyn Monroe was a truly iconic film star, whose beauty and talent became only more
renowned after her tragic and untimely death. Monroe was found dead in her Los
Angeles home on the morning of August 5th, 1962. She was just 36 years old,
and her cause of death was officially listed as a barbiturate overdose due to a probable suicide,
but not everyone bought the official explanation. And while Monroe's tragically
young death has been a magnet for gossip and conspiracy theories since the very beginning,
a new book asserts that everything we think we might know about Monroe's death is wrong.
Over the years, people have speculated that everyone from President John F. Kennedy to the mob
was really behind Monroe's supposed suicide. However, Mike Rothmiller, a former detective
with the Organized Crime Intelligence Division of the LAPD, has claimed that Monroe's death
was really orchestrated by none other than the president's brother, Robert "Bobby" Kennedy.
Rothmiller's book, Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe asserts that
Monroe's death was not really caused by a drug overdose. Instead, the former police officer
claimed that Bobby Kennedy spiked Monroe's drink the night before her death, ultimately
killing her. Monroe, who is believed to have had affairs with both married Kennedy brothers,
was allegedly threatening to come forward and tell the world about her relationship with the
famous politicians. Of course, the ambitious Kennedy family couldn't let that happen.
According to Rothmiller, on the evening of August 4th, the younger Kennedy appeared
at Monroe's home in a fury. The couple soon became engaged in a fiery fight over her diary,
which contained potentially damning entries about the Kennedy brothers.
Kennedy demanded she hand the diary over, but Monroe refused. The argument went
on for a long time, until Kennedy finally handed Monroe an unpleasant-tasting drink,
telling her to drink it. After drinking the whole glass, Monroe laid down and never woke up again.
After her death, Rothmiller claimed the LAPD recovered Monroe's diary,
and the entries seemed to confirm she was planning to talk. Researching through the LAPD's papers,
Rothmiller discovered the potentially incriminating entries Monroe wrote in the days
leading up to her death. According to Rothmiller, one entry from the week before her death read:
"Frank [Sinatra], Peter and others were there.
Frank said I can't keep my f---ing mouth shut. He told me to get out. I don't know why he's
treating me this way. What happened to me? I was drunk. I don't remember. Did I have sex?"
In the next entry, which had an angrier tone, Monroe reportedly wrote:
"They are not calling back. Bob and John used me. I told Peter they're ignoring
me. I'm not going to stand for that. I'm going to tell everyone about us."
Her final entry, written the day before her death, apparently read:
"Peter said Robert will come tomorrow. I don't know if he will."
Until his death, Bobby Kennedy denied even being in Los Angeles the night Monroe died.
However, according to Rothmiller's book, Peter Lawford, John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law,
confessed to the former detective just before his own death in 1984. Lawford
apparently said that he had been in Monroe's home that night and witnessed the whole thing,
although he claimed that he believed Kennedy had merely slipped a sedative,
not poison, into her drink. A few years later, in 1988, Lawford's fourth wife, Patricia Seaton,
revealed that Lawford was called by Monroe on the night she died. She also said that
Lawford claimed he recognized her call as a suicide gesture — but ignored it nonetheless.
"Yeah, he felt guilt about it. He felt a lot of guilt about it. Those
incidents seemed to haunt him a lot."
Rothmiller also claims that this knowledge came at a price. Mere weeks after hearing Lawford's full
story, Rothmiller was apparently attacked by an anonymous motorcycle-riding gunman,
who shot him in the back and side with a semi-automatic pistol.
Rothmiller suffered life-threatening spinal damage, and, fearing for his life,
he never came forward publicly to talk about what he had learned — until his book was
released in the summer of 2021. According to a 1992 report in the Los Angeles Times,
LAPD investigators believed that Rothmiller faked the attack to collect a disability pension.
But as bold as his claims may be, Rothmiller stands by both Lawford's
word and his allegations against Bobby Kennedy. Discussing Lawford's confession, Rothmiller wrote:
"It was clear he had been carrying the burden of guilt for many years
and, in all likelihood, this guilt had destroyed his career and, sadly, him as a
human being. [...] If I presented my evidence in any court of law, I'd get a conviction."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts,
please call or chat online with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Or Text HOME to the Crisis Text Line 741741.