B.B. King's daughters are claiming two of their father's closest aides poisoned him, but the attorney for his estate calls their allegations ridiculous.
King was receiving around-the-clock care by medical professionals until he died "peacefully away in his sleep" on May 14, attorney Brent Bryson told The Associated Press. He had chosen to receive hospice care from his home rather than a hospital until his death at age 89.
Daughters Karen Williams and Patty King have each filed affidavits claiming King's business manager, LaVerne Toney, and personal assistant, Myron Johnson, helped to facilitate their father's death by "misconduct, or by failing to properly attend to his medical needs," according to the AP.
Johnson was at King's bedside when he died in his Las Vegas home but no family members were present.
"I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances," Patty King and Williams both said in affidavits that their lawyer Larissa Drohobyczer provided to the AP.
The two women also stated, "I believe my father was murdered."
Las Vegas police homicide detectives are investigating King's death and an autopsy was performed on his body on Sunday. Investigators will not receive the test results to show if any poison was present in his body at death for another eight weeks, Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg told the AP.
"This is extremely disrespectful to B.B. King," Bryson said on Monday. "He did not want invasive medical procedures. He made the decision to return home for hospice care instead of staying in a hospital. These unfounded allegations have caused Mr. King to undergo an autopsy, which is exactly what he didn't want."
In April, Williams requested to take over as his guardian from Toney, but a judge denied the request a week before King's death. The petition filed on April 29 claimed Toney had blocked King's friends from visiting and that she had put her family members on King's payroll. It also alleged large amounts of money had gone missing from King's bank accounts.
Police and social service investigations found no evidence to back up the claims therefore giving no reason to take away the power-of-attorney from Toney, according to the AP.
"The family is sticking together ... to oust Ms. Toney based on her illegal conduct, conflicts of interest and self-dealing," Drohobyczer said.
Patty King claimed in an affidavit that she saw Johnson give her father two drops of an unknown substance on his tongue during the evening for several months before his death. Toney allegedly never told her what it was.
Fans said their final farewell to the blues legend at a public viewing in Las Vegas on May 22. More than 1,000 people attended the four-hour viewing. King's other daughter, Rita Washington, was in attendance to greet her father's many fans.
A family memorial held over the weekend welcomed 350 mourners and a Beale Street procession and memorial is scheduled for Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee. A final viewing will be held on Friday followed by his burial on Saturday in King's hometown of Indianola, Mississippi.
