Jim Morrison Death Case To Be Re-Opened?
July 9, 2007
Former New York Times journalist and French nightclub manager Sam Bernett has written a new book in which he claims that Doors singer Jim Morrison died of a drug overdose in a club that Bernett was managing, and not at home in his own bathtub as has been long believed. The testament is contained in Bernett's forthcoming book, The End - Jim Morrison, soon to be published in France, and the allegations are being taken so seriously that French authorities are considering re-opening the investigation into Morrison's death.
In the book, Bernett claims that Morrison died of a heroin overdose in the bathroom of The Rock 'n' Roll Circus nightclub in Paris, where Morrison was living at the time. Bernett says the death was then covered up by two drug dealers who transferred Morrison's body from the club to the singer's apartment and dumped it in the bathtub. Bernett was warned by the club's owners never to tell anybody what had happened.
According to Bernett, Morrison came to the club at 1 a.m. and bought heroin from two men working for Jean de Breteuil, a well known French drug dealer. "Both were French guys in their '20s. I knew what they were up to, and kept an eye out for Jim. He disappeared to the toilets at around 2 a.m.," Bernett told U.K. newspaper The Mail. "Then, about half an hour later, a cloakroom attendant came up to me and told me someone was locked in one of the cubicles and wasn't coming out. It was then that I got a bouncer to smash the door down."
Bernett found Morrison's body slumped on the toilet, and called for one of the club's customers, who was a doctor. After a brief examination, the doctor declared that Morrison was dead, but the two drug dealers insisted that he was just passed out. Then the two dealers lifted Morrison's body out of the toilets and along a corridor that linked the Circus with Alcazar, the club next door which still exists today. Minutes later, a representative of the club's owner allegedly warned Bernett not to tell anyone what had happened, because, "Since Morrison's friends want to take him with them, we have nothing more to do with this story. The club has no responsibility for what happens here. It was a sad accident, certainly, but that's fate. So we saw nothing, we heard nothing, we shut up! OK? It's what we better do to avoid a scandal."
Bernett, who today presents programs on French national radio, tells The Mail he has finally decided to break his silence despite risking prosecution for covering up the death in his club. "I was 26 in 1971," he said. "Today I'm past 60, and want to get rid of my heavy load. At least everything is now out there to be discussed. I've said what I have to say."
According to French law, criminal cases cannot be re-opened after 20 years have passed. However, civil law - as well as international law - may provide an opportunity for investigators to re-open the case. A spokesman for France's Police National said that, "The new evidence will have to be considered," according to The Mail.
http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=436638
