Latest findings on the death of Matthew Perry: Ketamine suppliers in focus

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Charges may soon be filed in connection with the death of Matthew Perry late last year.

An ongoing investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, the US Postal Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency is looking into the Friends The star’s death case is expected to be finalized soon and recommendations are expected to go to federal prosecutors, Deadline confirmed.

The allegations relate to “a number of individuals” who apparently supplied Perry, 54, with ketamine and possibly “other drugs” in the days before the actor’s death on October 28, 2023, law enforcement sources say. Perry received “drugs from acquaintances he met online,” a person with knowledge of the investigation says.

No further details have been released about how Perry contacted and maintained contact with the individuals in question, but the relatively recent involvement of the USPS in the investigation strongly suggests that someone sent something to Perry through the mail.

Officially there is no update on the investigation.

“It is still in effect at this time,” an LAPD spokesman told Deadline on Wednesday of the Perry investigation between the police and the DEA that came to light last month. “No further information is available at this time,” the official added. The office of E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, did not comment on the status of the investigation or possible charges. If the government decides not to file charges, prosecutors could take up the matter, I’m told, but no decision has been made.

Six weeks after Perry’s death in his backyard hot tub, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office announced on December 15, 2023, that the multiple Emmy nominee died from the “acute effects of ketamine.” Additionally, the autopsy report found that drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine – a drug used to treat opioid use disorder – contributed to Perry’s death.

Perry battled addiction and bad habits for many years and had been receiving regular ketamine infusions in the months before his death. Adding to the uncertainty surrounding Perry’s demise is the fact that the actor, who described himself as sober and clean, had stopped taking therapy for over a week before his death. Under that schedule and the way ketamine is stored in the human body, the remnants of the drug from his last therapeutic injection would have left his body long before his death.

When the LAPD and DEA investigations into Perry’s death became public in late May, a law enforcement source told Deadline, “There have been concerns for some time about how so much ketamine could have been in the deceased’s system.”

A big star of the small screen, the likes of which are rarely heard today, due to the great success of Friends During his run from 1994 to 2004, Perry documented his struggle with alcohol and drugs in his 2022 bestseller Friends, lovers and the big terrible thing Memoirs.

People first reported on the current status of the interagency investigation.