DOCUMENT: Crime

Heroin Overdose Killed "Murphy Brown" Star

View Document

Heroin Overdose Killed "Murphy Brown" Star

APRIL 8--An autopsy has confirmed that actor Robert Pastorelli, who starred opposite Candice Bergen in "Murphy Brown," died last month of an accidental heroin overdose.

On March 8, Pastorelli's assistant found the 49-year-old performer slumped over on the toilet of his Hollywood home, a syringe sticking from his right arm. According to a coroner's report released yesterday (excerpts from which you'll find here), Pastorelli died from a "fatal blood concentration of morphine."

According to sources quoted in the report, Pastorelli previously battled heroin addiction and had been depressed since his girlfriend's 1999 suicide. (3 pages)