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Matthew Perry passed away almost nine months ago, but his death is still hitting the headlines because of a criminal investigation that may lead to arrests. This serious turn in the case may not have happened if the Friends star’s stepfather, Dateline‘s Keith Morrison, hadn’t pushed for a deeper look as to why his stepson died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine last October.
It was Morrison’s way of finding justice through a very sad turn of events in his family’s life. “Keith has the contacts, the soft skills, and decades of experience in dealing with local and national law enforcement to make a real difference in the investigation into Matthew’s death,” an insider told In Touch. “Because Keith is involved, getting on the phone and calling people himself, the chances of there being real criminal consequences in this case have skyrocketed.” The journalist’s “expertise as an investigator” has been crucial to pushing the Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and postal inspectors at the U.S. Postal Service to find out who was Perry’s supplier.
Morrison was a huge presence in the late 54-year-old actor’s life after marrying Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry, in 1981. He was a father figure to the young star, who was only 12 years old at the time. The NBC investigative journalist opened up to Hoda Kotb on her Making Space podcast in March to talk about the grief he and his wife were still experiencing. “As other people have told me hundreds of times. [Grief] doesn’t go away yet,” he explained. “It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time. There’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain, and, you know, it’s not easy, especially for his mom.”
Morrison isn’t diving headfirst into the investigation just for his wife, he’s also doing it for himself. “He loved Matthew like a son and doesn’t want his death to have been in vain,” the In Touch source added. The Dateline star wants people to understand that “this isn’t about getting ‘revenge’ on the people who got Matthew his drugs, it’s about sending a loud, clear message to the entire world of the real dangers not just in using hard drugs but in providing them to an addict.”
Perry was open about his addiction issues in his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, and he didn’t want to hide behind his sickness. “I’ve said this for a long time: When I die, I don’t want Friends to be the first thing that’s mentioned,” he wrote. “I want [helping people] to be the first thing that’s mentioned. And I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.”
Before you go, click here to see what celebrities say about the moment that helped them recover from addiction:
