Matthew Perry’s Death: Drug-Dealing Underworld Exposed, Authorities ‘Have a List of Suspects’

In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Matthew Perry — who struggled with alcohol and opioid addiction for most of his life — wrote about undergoing ketamine therapy. His doctors used the dissociative anesthetic drug “to ease pain and help with depression,” he explained. “Ketamine felt like a giant exhale,” like “being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel.” However, he added, “the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel. Ketamine was not for me.”

Yet he continued to use it under a doctor’s supervision. He was also secretly abusing it, an autopsy report confirmed. On October 28, the 54-year-old Friends star’s lifeless body was discovered in the hot tub of his L.A. home. His cause of death: the “acute effects of ketamine.” But the actor’s last treatment with his doctor had been conducted a week and a half before his tragic passing. Because the drug metabolizes quickly, “the ketamine in his system at death could not be from that infusion therapy,” his autopsy report stated. As it became apparent that someone had to have provided Matthew with the drug that was in his system, says a source exclusively to In Touch, authorities quietly launched a criminal probe that’s put Hollywood’s drug-dealing underworld on high alert. Reports reveal the LAPD — which is working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on the case — is now planning a press conference to announce possible charges. (Previously, the U.S. Attorney’s office had “no comment.”) In Touch can further confirm that some well-known names are caught up in the investigation. “They have a list of suspects,” says the source. “It’s got a lot of people in Hollywood on edge.”

The Canadian actor “knew who to call when he needed a fix, that much is obvious,” says the source. That person, or people, may soon be facing consequences. One news outlet reported that authorities are looking at not only dealers and drug swappers, but potentially doctors who wrote prescriptions outside the scope of medical necessity. That indicates that investigators may seek to charge suspects with drug distribution resulting in death or great bodily injury, which carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison. Another outlet confirms involuntary manslaughter charges, which come with a sentence of up to five years behind bars, are also a possibility. “It’s likely they’ll find more people linked to this swapping of drugs by tracking cell phone conversations, text messages, emails, internet use and physical location,” says the source.

In June, In Touch reported exclusively on a shocking lead in the investigation. “Officers seized an iPhone and a laptop from a [famous] woman’s room at a sober living residence in L.A. and brought her in for questioning,” an insider revealed, explaining that Matthew had “formed an unexpected friendship” with the socialite and actress — who In Touch has since publicly identified as Brooke Mueller, 46, actor Charlie Sheen’s former wife — after allegedly meeting her during one of his 15 rehab stints. According to the insider, Brooke, who’s struggled with her sobriety for years, was “completely cooperative” with authorities and has not been arrested.

In the days that followed, In Touch learned that a second celebrity friend could also be entangled in Matthew’s drug death probe. According to a second insider, this second star and the actor famous for playing the sardonic Chandler Bing both claimed to be sober but were in fact “walking pharmacies” who engaged in late-night chats about their addictions, sobriety battles and personal lives.

There’s also photo evidence of Matthew and this second, unnamed pal together at the office of a doctor who prescribes ketamine. The second insider believes Matthew and the second celebrity friend may have “aided” each other by referring each other to their respective doctors whenever their own drug supply ran low.

A look at that relationship could potentially provide leads into the source of the ketamine that killed the 17 Again star, claims the second insider. “If the Feds had either one of their phones — especially [the second celeb’s], because she doesn’t erase text messages — they would probably find conversations about the drug and ‘How can I get extra?’” If authorities were to look, continues the second insider, “I am 100 percent sure they’ll find information that could help their investigation.”

Former CIA and FBI special agent Tracy Walder told a news outlet covering the case that there’s been a major uptick in drug rings sending prescription medication via the U.S. Postal Service — which is considered mail fraud, a federal offense. “Using the mail to commit a crime is more common than you think,” she told the outlet, explaining how the drugs get to an addict’s mailbox: “Say someone gets a legal prescription for ketamine and maybe has a $20 copay on insurance, then decides to sell the prescription for $10K because this junkie needs it and they know he has the money. There is big money to be made.”

Ultimately, when it comes to charges, “intent is going to be the question,” the former agent explained. Whoever helped Matthew get drugs “obviously knew what they were doing was wrong. However, did they actively know that by procuring this [drug for Matthew that] it would kill him?”

Even if Matthew’s drug suppliers are brought to justice, his loved ones’ agony will endure. His stepfather, famed Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, 77, lamented on a March podcast, “It doesn’t go away yet. It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time.” In May, Courteney Cox, 60, confessed she copes with her grief by talking to her onscreen husband, who “visits me a lot,” she revealed, adding, “I sense Matthew’s around for sure.” Friends costar Jennifer Aniston, 55, was brought to tears simply thinking about Matthew during an interview with Variety in June. “They’re still so shaken up by his loss,” says the source. Everything the investigation uncovers is just another blow. “They wanted to believe Matthew had his life back under control, but he didn’t, and it was much worse than they could have imagined.”