Autopsy in Getty oil heir's death expected on Thursday

[April 02, 2015]  By Steve Gorman
 
 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Andrew Getty, the grandson of billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, died from what appear to have been accidental or natural causes, but an autopsy is not expected to be performed before Thursday, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.

The 47-year-old heir to the Getty oil fortune was found dead on Tuesday at his Hollywood Hills home, his parents said in a statement in which they requested privacy. Police said there was no immediate sign of foul play.

The medical examiner assigned to the case was expected to begin her investigation on Wednesday afternoon, and an autopsy would be performed on Getty's body on Thursday at the earliest, the coroner's watch commander, Mario Sainz, told Reuters.

Getty had told his girlfriend, Lanessa DeJonge, that he had been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, the Associated Press reported, citing her mother, Marilynne DeJonge.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lanessa DeJonge discovered Getty's body on the bathroom floor on Tuesday, although he had recently got a restraining order against her.

Celebrity news website TMZ.com on Wednesday cited unnamed law enforcement sources in reporting that Getty had been suffering severe gastrointestinal problems and had an appointment to see a doctor on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Commander Andrew Smith said the investigation was in its early stages and witnesses were being questioned, though no one had been taken into custody.

"At first glance, it does not appear to be a criminal type of act. But that could change," he added.

Getty's death appeared to have been from either accidental or natural causes, Los Angeles County Coroner's Office spokesman Ed Winter told a news conference.

"He had some medication that we recovered and don't know if he had taken the medication or what his medical history is," Winter said on Tuesday, adding that authorities would follow up on the name of a doctor they had been given.

Andrew Getty was said to be a horror film buff and was in the process of making such a movie, with props found strewn around parts of his home, according to TMZ.

Getty's grandfather, J. Paul Getty, died in 1976. He had merged several smaller oil companies into Getty Oil in the 1960s.

At one time one of America's richest men, he was also an avid art collector who established the trust that funds the J. Paul Getty Museum and other institutions.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernandez)

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