Cause of Jackson's death uncertain

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County medical officials, having completed a preliminary autopsy, said Friday that Michael Jackson had taken prescription medications, but that the cause of his sudden death Thursday would not be known for weeks, pending toxicology tests.

As fans across the globe continued to mourn the fallen pop star, tangled questions about the circumstances surrounding his death and his complex financial dealings began to inconclusively unravel.

Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner's office, said there was no evidence of trauma or foul play and the family was free to take Jackson's body on Friday evening.

"There will be no final ruling as to the cause and manner of death until requested tests results have been received," Harvey said. That will take four to six weeks.

The police investigation into Jackson's death focused in part on his private doctor, Conrad Murray. The authorities impounded Murray's car at Jackson's rented $100,000-a-month mansion in Holmby Hills late Thursday, with the hope of finding clues to what led to the singer's cardiac arrest.

Detectives talked briefly with Murray and planned to question him more extensively, police said.

Jackson, 50, who had been preparing for a comeback-concert series in London, was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Thursday afternoon by paramedics and was pronounced dead in the emergency room.

A 911 tape released Friday featured the voice of a man imploring an ambulance to hurry to the scene, where he described a doctor frantically trying to revive Jackson. When asked if anyone had seen what happened, the unidentified man replied, "No, just the doctor, sir. He's not responding to CPR. He's pumping his chest but he's not responding to anything."

Murray, who public records show has lived in numerous different homes over the last decade in several states, filed for personal bankruptcy in 1992 in California and has five tax liens against him for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to HealthGrades, an online record of doctors, Murray is not board certified in his two specialties, internal medicine and cardiology. Board certification is not required to practice a specialty, but is recommended and indicates a high level of training and expertise.

He is a native of Grenada, a 1989 graduate of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and is licensed to practice in California and Nevada, state records show.

Tohme Tohme, who recently served as Jackson's manager, said that AEG Live, the concert promoter behind the London appearances, had hired Murray, who was meant to accompany Jackson to Europe.

In the California sunshine on Friday, massive crowds pressed together in the streets to be near Jackson's star. Superman and Marilyn Monroe impersonators lined the streets. "It's like a movie premiere out there," said police Officer Paula Davidson, an outpouring that she suspected would only build through the weekend.

The mourning over the singer continued beyond U.S. soil. From Moscow to Paris — where fans moonwalked around Notre Dame — celebrations of Jackson's life continued into Friday evening.

Details of Jackson's last days began to emerge Friday. He spent his final night alive in his favorite spot on earth: the stage.

At Staples Center on Wednesday, he did a full run-through of his planned concert. He and his company — dancers, musicians, singers, aerial performers, choreographers and costumers — planned to fly to England next week for final dress rehearsals at London's O2 arena, the site of his 50-night sold-out run.

According to his collaborators, Jackson was in high spirits, energetic, optimistic and focused. The show's director, Kenny Ortega — whose career highlights include "High School Musical," the "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" and "Dirty Dancing" — began work on the staging with Jackson four months ago.

He recalled Jackson as bursting with enthusiasm. "There were a couple of times when Michael stood at my side and we looked at the stage together and were just beaming with gladness that we had arrived at this place," Ortega said.

He denied the slender singer had overextended himself by working out four hours a day, six days a week in preparation for the concerts. "He was dancing, training, working every day with our choreographer Travis (Payne)," Ortega said.

The singer died under a mountain of debt; estimates ranged from $300 million to $500 million. "Quite frankly, he may be worth more dead than alive," Jerry Reisman, general counsel for the Hit Factory, where Jackson produced his best-selling album "Thriller," told The Associated Press.

Material from The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press is included in this report.