The very mysterious circumstances surrounding the aftermath of Marilyn Monroe's death
Emma Guinness
Featured Image Credit: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / ScreenProd / Photononstop / Alamy
Marilyn Monroe's death has been a source of fascination since the Hollywood icon passed away at the age of just 36 in 1962.
The Some like it Hot star was found dead after an apparent barbiturate overdose, and the circumstances surrounding her death were more mysterious than you think.
A little-known fact is that her body allegedly went missing after it was transported to the local morgue following its discovery by Monroe's housekeeper, Eunice Murray.
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As it was famously sang by Elton John, Monroe was naked when she was discovered dead in bed in the early hours of the morning, and while her death looked like a suicide, to this day, there are some who argue this was not the case.
Further mystery was added to the case by what happened to her body in the morgue.
Despite being one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, Monroe's corpse - which now rests next to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in Westwood Village Memorial Park - was left unattended for hours at a time.
It was this that gave rise to the rumours that it was actually removed from the morgue and tampered with to affect the results of her postmortem.
While there is no proof that Monroe was ever removed from the morgue, the man who was due to carry out her autopsy, Dr Thomas Noguchi, claimed that materials from her stomach and intestines had been 'destroyed'.
He said that this meant that the toxicology tests carried out on the late star were not as accurate as they could have been.
The doctor also alleged that some tests 'were never done', although he confirmed that her blood and liver were examined, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
While this part of the aftermath of Monroe's death is mysterious in itself, the mystery deepened when the funeral director wrote a tell-all about her death.
Allan Abbott said that it was 'almost impossible' to believe that the body he dealt with belonged to the woman who was widely regarded as the ultimate sex symbol of the 20th century.
He said: "When we removed the sheet covering her, it was almost impossible to believe this was the body of Marilyn Monroe. She looked like a very average, ageing woman who had not been taking very good care of herself.
"Obviously, the circumstances surrounding her death had greatly exacerbated her poor appearance and she was unrecognisable."
The funeral director went on to reveal that Monroe had not bleached her hair for some time prior to her death and her famous platinum blonde locks were brown at the roots.
He explained that suitable action was taken to make the actress look more presentable prior to her burial, including an operation on her neck, which was swollen post-mortem.
As has been widely speculated, although Monroe's death was ruled a 'probable suicide', she was rumoured to have been having an affair with then then-President John F. Kennedy.
Some believe that she was deliberately murdered before the affair went public.
However, the circumstances surrounding her death suggest that she was in a bad mental state and could have well lost track of the amount of perscription medication she was taking.
Her body was ultimately claimed by her ex husband, Joe DiMaggio, and she was laid to rest following an intimate service with around 30 guests.