Two of B.B. King’s daughters are accusing two of his aides of poisoning their father.
Daughters Karen Williams and Patty King allege that their father was murdered by his business manager LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson.
“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” both daughters state in identical affidavits, presented by their lawyer Larissa Drohobyczer to the Associated Press. “I believe he was murdered.” Drohobyczer also represents “most” of King’s nine other adult children and heirs.
King’s daughters are claiming that they were prevented from seeing him in his final days in a Las Vegas hospice care, where he died on May 14 age 89. They allege Toney and Johnson poisoned him to speed up his death.
Attorney for King’s estate Brent Bryson is refuting the claims, calling them ridiculous. “I hope they have factual basis that they can demonstrate for their defamatory and libelous allegations,” he said. He also claims three doctors determined that King was appropriately cared for, and received 24-hour care until he passed away peacefully in his sleep.
“They’ve been making allegations all along. What’s new?” said Toney, who worked for King for 39 years and had power-of-attorney over his affairs. Toney is named in King’s will as executor of an estate that could total tens of millions of dollars.
Las Vegas police are investigating. An autopsy was performed on King’s body last Sunday, but results will take eight weeks to arrive.
Tensions were high even before King’s death. A week earlier, a judge had dismissed a request from Williams to take over as King’s guardian, and an April 29 petition alleged that Toney had blocked King’s friends from visiting him and put members of her own family on the payroll. Allegedly – (how many times can you write allegedly in one story?) – large sums of money also disappeared from King’s bank accounts.
However, police and social services investigations in October and April uncovered no reason to take power-of-attorney away from Toney, according to Clark County Family Court Hearing Master Jon Norheim.
Investigations are ongoing. Meanwhile, B.B. King will be laid to rest in the Mississippi Delta, following public and private memorials in Las Vegas that drew in more than 1,000 fans to pay their respects to the blues legend.
