Liam Peterson Dies of Heart Failure

[Rachel]

((posted as Jamie Peterson))
July 26, 2005

I came home Tuesday from a song and dance rehearsal at the Oasis club to find police cars and a van out front of our 110 East 93rd Street home. I hurried inside panic stricken to find Lt. Joe Friday in our living room talking to Brittany.

I was screaming, "What happened here." Joe sat me down and informed me that my husband, Liam, had died of a heart attack!!

I looked straight at Brittany, sure that she had proceeded with her plan of slipping adrenaline in his wine at lunch then teasing him into having wild sex. She knew it might kill him, and I had refused to go along with her plan. She said she had checked his will and that I'd inherit everything, including the house. We would be on easy street and could pick and choose our male playmates.

Joe seemed to be accepting the heart attack, so I kept my mouth shut about her plan. He asked what Brit was doing there and she said she lived there and often took Liam up his lunch when I wasn't home. Joe's eyes got a little wide hearing that and he started writing notes in his notepad, so I just headed off his questions regarding why Brit was having sex with my husband. I told him Brittany and I are lovers, a situation that suited Liam quite well. I'm sure Joe had visions of us in a threesome, which was often true these days.

When they brought the body down, I insisted on seeming him, instead of having to make that terrible review of the body in the morgue. I identified the body as Liam's and asked if we could have the funeral home pick him up here, since I knew his will requested cremation and no memorial ceremony.

Brit and I were both shocked when Lt. Friday and Dr. Garret Macy both said Garret would have to perform an autopsy since the 911 call had merely requested assistance and that a man might be dying. That sent the police instead of just an ambulance, something Brit should have specifically requested. Once the police were involved, they require an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

Dr. Garret was very reassuring, saying it was just standard procedure and they wouldn't keep the body long. He was already quite sure it was a heart attack.

After they took him away, Brit and I argued for almost and hour, but I finally decided it was best if I kept my mouth shut.

[Bridget Martin]

Good evening, Bridget Martin, Channel 2 CBS News reporter.

July 26, 2005

Today at approximately 3:30 pm the police received a 911 call, a female saying she believed a man was dying or dead at 110 East 93rd Street in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

It turned out to be well know 45 year old novelist, Liam Peterson. Preliminary information obtained from the police stated he died of heart failure.

The female that called 911 was Brittany Murphy, an American Airline stewardess, who said she also resides at that home.

Liam's wife, Jamie Peterson, a 35 year old singer and dancer that works at the notorious Oasis Men's Club, wasn't present at the time of his death and hasn't returned our calls.

[Joe Friday]

Garret Macy called me down to the morgue where he told me that they found traces of adrenaline in Liam Peterson's body. That pretty much confirmed my suspicion that Liam might have been murdered.

We called in Elspeth Wise to check out the wine glass bagged at the scene. She promised to have some results before she left on Thursday.

I went to the courthouse and obtained a search warrant for the Peterson home, planning to take Dara over there this evening to pick up Jamie Peterson and Brittany Murphy for supposedly more questioning. First I need the DA to assign a potential prosecutor.

Returning to the NYPD where Elspeth's tests lay there on my desk..... opening them... smiling as I see they found adrenaline in that wine glass and two sets of fingerprints... one set of the deceased.... one set that surprise us when they matched Brittany Murphy.... from a drug arrest five years ago..... she was released since the amount of marijuana she was found with was minor...... and she was given a warning and released.

[Joe Friday]

On Thursday evening Dara, Jeff and I arrived at the Peterson residence with a search warrant. Only Mrs. Peterson was present. She said Brittany was in Boston, her normal mid week flight there for American Airlines. Dara and I took Jamie in for questioning while Jeff stayed and searched the entire residence.

On Friday morning Jeff was in my office waiting when I arrived. He told me that he found a bottle containing adrenaline in Liam Peterson's desk drawer. It had been wiped clean, something that wouldn't have happened had Liam used it himself. The good news was that using a newe technique that Elspeth had added to the CSI lab, they were able to get a partial fingerprint on the cap that matched Murphy's on file.

Jeff also said he found and confiscated a bong and a small bag of marijuana in Brittany's closet. That gives us enough for a simple arrest if Trina DeMarco chooses to use that while we put together the murder case.

I picked up Brittany at the airport after her flight came in and brought her to the 5th Precinct where Garret Macy and I questioned her. When she realized what was going on, she clammed up and called Crane, Poole and Schmidt as her lawyers.

Then we questioned Jamie Peterson. Garret explained why we thought Brittany might have murdered Liam and I tried to get her to tell us everything she knew.  She clammed up and requested a lawyer when we wouldn't let her talk to Brittany. I understand she hired Diane Neal to represent her. That will slow things down and there probably won't be an arraignment until Monday. Since we weren't prepared to make an arrest, we had to relase them both after their attorneys arrived.

[Trina]

Monday night, Brittany Murphy was arraigned before Judge Helen Gamble.  Tara Wilson got her to accept a plea bargain of 25 years for Murder Two and an additional 7 years for the drug charges.  All in all, a successful conviction.