Police investigating Casey Kasem's death 4 years later: Inside the twisted family drama
It’s been over four years since radio icon Casey Kasem died, but police in Washington state just recently opened an investigation into his death, after receiving information from the family that alleged it was wrongful.
“Our administrative review of the case will conclude this week and we will be sending the report to the prosecutor,” Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey told Yahoo Entertainment in a statement. “I am not prepared to comment on the case until that point.”
The review comes as members of the family Kasem left behind are accusing each other in the media of killing the American Top 40 host. Kasem’s widow and second wife, Jean, claims his three adult children from his first marriage are responsible, while the children are pointing fingers at her. The bizarre family drama of blame has been going on since before Kasem’s death and has intensified in recent weeks.
Kasem’s children, Julie, Kerri and Mike, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jean in 2015, accusing her of elder abuse and emotional distress due to the limited access she granted them to their father starting in 2013, when he was ill.
“I did everything I could to save his life,” Kerri said on Saturday’s 48 Hours: The Mysterious Death of Casey Kasem. “I cannot wait for the wrongful death trial to begin because [of] the overwhelming amount of evidence that we can present.”
Jean Kasem also sat for the CBS special and rebutted the accusation to correspondent Peter Van Sant. “I assure you, Peter, that I did not kill him,” she declared.
“But you believe someone else is responsible for his death?” Van Sant asked.
“Yes, I do,” she replied. “It’s the adult children of Casey, from a prior marriage of over 40 years ago.”
In 2017, Jean countersued Kasem’s children, alleging wrongful death, negligence and fraud.
Kasem, who suffered from dementia, died in June 2014. Prior to his death, Jean removed her husband from his Los Angeles medical facility and relocated him to Washington, unbeknown to Kasem’s children, who reported him missing. Once it was discovered where he was, more than a week later, a battle ensued over Kasem’s welfare. Kerri was granted temporary conservatorship of her father, and she moved him from his Washington home to the hospital.
When he arrived at the hospital, Kasem reportedly had a urinary tract infection and a stage III ulcer on his back. Doctors would also diagnose septic shock, respiratory failure, a lung infection and a host of other ailments. In June, a judge ordered Kasem could return home with Jean, but he never made it. Doctors refused to release him due to his pain, and he died in the hospital.
In 2015, Kasem’s adult children received around $2 million from their father’s life insurance policy. Jean believes certain members of the Church of Scientology assisted in the children’s plot to kill their father in order to get ahold of that money, along with his estimated $80 million fortune.
“It was preplanned,” Jean told Radar Online. “It’s very clear and it’s very convincing that they wanted to seek physical control of Casey, human traffic him and trap him in a hospital, chemically restrain him and kill him.”
She added that “immediately” after Kasem’s death, members of the church and his kids began “harassing the funeral home and vital records in order to get a death certificate so they could file for a $2.1 million dollar life insurance policy.”
“I’m not accusing the Church of Scientology of anything,” she continued. “I am accusing these members.” Jean claims to have “email evidence” and “text messages” to prove there are co-conspirators within Scientology.
Julie Kasem slammed Jean and those accusations, while admitting her sister Kerri is a Scientologist. However, Julie told TMZ no money she or her siblings received went to the church.
A judge could rule on the case next spring and the outcome could affect who inherits Kasem’s fortune.
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