Michael Jackson's father said yesterday he suspected foul play over his son's death.
Joe Jackson said he could not understand why the pop star died suddenly, having appeared fit and well in the hours just before. The mystery over the singer's final hours deepened with fresh revelations.
Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray denied injecting the singer with the painkiller Demerol and said he was innocent of causing the death.
Read in-depth report on Michael JacksonAlleged details of an autopsy suggested Jackson was 'a virtual skeleton', almost totally bald, his body riddled with needle wounds as a result of regular pain-killing injections.
It was revealed Jackson's 12-year-old son Michael Joseph, known as Prince, watched the struggle to save his father but thought the 50-year-old was playing a practical joke.
His funeral could be as early tomorrow with plans being made for a huge public ceremony.
The intervention by Joe Jackson increases pressure on authorities to produce definitive results from the two post-mortem examinations.
He said: "Michael was dead before he left the house. I'm suspecting foul play somewhere. He was waving to everybody and telling them he loves them and all, the fans at the gate. A few minutes after Michael was out there, he was dead."
In another interview at the Black Entertainment Awards, where stars paid tribute to his son, Joe, 80, said: "I have a lot of concerns. I don't like what happened."
He refused to elaborate but the family, which met to discuss funeral arrangements, is reportedly pushing the police to mount a criminal investigation to answer nagging questions that still surround lthe tragedy.
They ordered a second autopsy on Jackson's body over the weekend in the hope that it might provide more answers.
Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, went on television to defend his client. Police interviewed Dr Murray on Saturday and said he was not a suspect.
The doctor told police he did not inject Jackson with a shot of Demerol painkiller less than an hour before the singer collapsed with a heart attack. He maintained that Jackson was still alive when he first found him, slumped in his bed unable to breathe.
Chernoff said Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when Dr Murray tried desperately to revive him. He said the doctor administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, putting one hand behind Jackson's back and compressing with the other hand.
"Keep in mind that Michael is a very frail individual and the doctor knew this and he was compressing hard enough that the doctor knew he was pumping the blood throughout the system," he said.
He denied that Dr Murray had ever prescribed or administered Demerol to Jackson. "Not ever, not that day. Not Oxycontin either, for that matter," Chernoff said.
"Michael Jackson had specific medical problems that Dr Murray as his private physician inherited. As a result of the tour he was doing in Europe, he [Jackson] was under a lot of stress. He was doing a lot of dates in a very short time."
Reported results of the post-mortem examination on Jackson showed no trace of food in his stomach, only partially-dissolved pills and said he was "severely emaciated", weighing eight stone one ounce, far below his ideal body weight.
Joe Jackson said he could not understand why the pop star died suddenly, having appeared fit and well in the hours just before. The mystery over the singer's final hours deepened with fresh revelations.
Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray denied injecting the singer with the painkiller Demerol and said he was innocent of causing the death.
Read in-depth report on Michael JacksonAlleged details of an autopsy suggested Jackson was 'a virtual skeleton', almost totally bald, his body riddled with needle wounds as a result of regular pain-killing injections.
It was revealed Jackson's 12-year-old son Michael Joseph, known as Prince, watched the struggle to save his father but thought the 50-year-old was playing a practical joke.
His funeral could be as early tomorrow with plans being made for a huge public ceremony.
The intervention by Joe Jackson increases pressure on authorities to produce definitive results from the two post-mortem examinations.
He said: "Michael was dead before he left the house. I'm suspecting foul play somewhere. He was waving to everybody and telling them he loves them and all, the fans at the gate. A few minutes after Michael was out there, he was dead."
In another interview at the Black Entertainment Awards, where stars paid tribute to his son, Joe, 80, said: "I have a lot of concerns. I don't like what happened."
He refused to elaborate but the family, which met to discuss funeral arrangements, is reportedly pushing the police to mount a criminal investigation to answer nagging questions that still surround lthe tragedy.
They ordered a second autopsy on Jackson's body over the weekend in the hope that it might provide more answers.
Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, went on television to defend his client. Police interviewed Dr Murray on Saturday and said he was not a suspect.
The doctor told police he did not inject Jackson with a shot of Demerol painkiller less than an hour before the singer collapsed with a heart attack. He maintained that Jackson was still alive when he first found him, slumped in his bed unable to breathe.
Chernoff said Jackson still had a faint pulse and his body was warm when Dr Murray tried desperately to revive him. He said the doctor administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, putting one hand behind Jackson's back and compressing with the other hand.
"Keep in mind that Michael is a very frail individual and the doctor knew this and he was compressing hard enough that the doctor knew he was pumping the blood throughout the system," he said.
He denied that Dr Murray had ever prescribed or administered Demerol to Jackson. "Not ever, not that day. Not Oxycontin either, for that matter," Chernoff said.
"Michael Jackson had specific medical problems that Dr Murray as his private physician inherited. As a result of the tour he was doing in Europe, he [Jackson] was under a lot of stress. He was doing a lot of dates in a very short time."
Reported results of the post-mortem examination on Jackson showed no trace of food in his stomach, only partially-dissolved pills and said he was "severely emaciated", weighing eight stone one ounce, far below his ideal body weight.
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