The investigation surrounding Matthew Perry‘s death at age 54 continues as a shocking new lead emerges. A celebrity has been questioned by the cops, In Touch can reveal in a bombshell world exclusive.
In May, the LAPD launched a criminal investigation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service into the circumstances surrounding the Friends star’s death on October 28, 2023, when he was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home.
“They have basically been on the hunt for Matthew’s killer,” an insider exclusively tells In Touch, adding that a woman was brought in for questioning. “She’s a celebrity in her own right, and they met in rehab. They formed an unexpected friendship.”
While In Touch knows the identity of the celebrity in question, her name will not be revealed due to sensitivities in the ongoing investigation.
Two months after Matthew’s death, the medical examiner officially ruled that he died from “acute effects of ketamine,” with drowning as a contributing factor “due to the likelihood of submersion into the pool as he lapsed into unconsciousness,” according to the autopsy report.
But no illicit drugs or paraphernalia were found in his home, and his last ketamine infusion therapy treatment with his doctor, which was conducted in an hour-long session with an IV, had been a week-and-a-half before. Because the drug metabolizes quickly, “the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy,” the medical examiner concluded in the report.
Investigators therefore suspect that Matthew got the fatal dose from someone else — which led them to the woman in question.
“It’s tough to say or know exactly what her role is [in Matthew’s death], but she’s adamant she had nothing to do with that,” says the insider. “She’s hired lawyers and has had multiple meetings with law enforcement since they arrived at her sober living house with a search warrant. She’s being tight-lipped about the situation. But the investigators must have known something to get a warrant and turn up like that.”
The woman, who is a household name because of her marriage to an A-lister, “was in total shock and had no idea what the search warrant was about” when authorities arrived at her sober living house, which she’d entered after her latest rehab stint.
“She wasn’t expecting what happened to happen,” the insider says, adding that the woman was not handcuffed, nor was she arrested. “The officers searched her room, and she surrendered everything. She was completely cooperative.”
It’s not entirely clear what they were looking for, says the insider, “but the inquiry was tied to the investigation into how Matthew acquired the drugs that killed him.”
The authorities are being equally guarded. “I know who you are referring to,” a law enforcement agency source tells In Touch of the woman. “I am not at liberty to discuss any aspects of this investigation at this time due to mutual agreement with the other agencies involved in the investigation.”
Privately, the woman, who is currently sober, according to the insider, swears she would never do anything to hurt the man she considered a friend.
“They leaned on each other,” says the insider. “She’s been an emotional wreck. This could send her over the edge, whether she’s involved or not.”
In his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew revealed he was undergoing therapy with a synthetic form of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic drug. “It’s used for two reasons: to ease pain and help with depression. Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty,’” he wrote, heartbreakingly comparing the drug’s effects to “dying.”
