DA deciding whether to investigate James Brown’s death

James Brown’s death may be formally investigated after woman claims to have evidence the Godfather of Soul’s heart failure was caused by someone else

  • James Brown, known as the ‘godfather of soul’ died of heart failure on Christmas Day in 2006 in Atlanta
  • He died less than two days after being hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia
  • Jacque Hollander has met Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s office and presented him with a ‘bin of material’ she said related to the singer’s death
  • Howard is looking at the material and will  decide whether to open an investigation 

A prosecutor in Atlanta will decide whether to open a formal investigation into James Brown’s death after meeting with a woman who says she has evidence the legendary singer was murdered, his spokesman said.

Brown, known as the Godfather of Soul, was 73 when he died of heart failure on Christmas day in 2006 in Atlanta, less than two days after being hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia.

A woman named Jacque Hollander contacted Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s office to request a meeting, claiming Brown’s death was caused by another person, according to the prosecutor’s spokesman Chris Hopper.

In this July 6, 2005 file photo, James Brown performs on stage during the Live 8 concert at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. He died of heart failure on Christmas Day in 2006 in Atlanta. 

A doctor who signed Brown's death certificate raised questions about the singer's sudden decline (seen laying in repose during a viewing at the Apollo theater on December 28, 2006)

A doctor who signed Brown’s death certificate raised questions about the singer’s sudden decline (seen laying in repose during a viewing at the Apollo theater on December 28, 2006) 

Jacque Hollander, Brown's one-time rape accuser, went to the prosecutor this week and handed over a bin containing materials related to his death

Soul singer James Brown is shown with his wife Adrienne in this Feb. 24, 1994 photo

Jacque Hollander (left), Brown’s one-time rape accuser, went to the prosecutor this week and handed over a bin containing materials related to his death. Hollander previously claimed that both the singer and his third wife, Adrienne, had been murdered 

Howard met with Hollander on Wednesday and accepted a bin of materials she said related to Brown’s death. 

He will reviewed the materials Hollander brought and will decide whether to open an investigation, Hopper said.

There long have been speculations concerning the circumstances of Brown’s death, but the case drew renewed attention a year ago, when CNN conducted a series of explosive interviews with dozens of friends and family members of the singer, some of whom argued that both he and his third wife, Adrienne, were murdered. 

Hollander, a former circus performer and a friend of Adrienne’s, worked with Brown in the 1980s and accused the singer of raping her.

Brown was never prosecuted for Hollander’s alleged rape, but she began gathering evidence and documents about him.

Hollander told CNN in February 2019 she could prove that Brown had been murdered and said there was ‘no doubt’ Adrienne was killed, too. 

THE BIG ISSUES SURROUNDING JAMES BROWN’S DEATH

Nearly 140 people, 1,300 pages of text messages and tens of thousands of pages of police and court records were looked at for the extensive investigation into James Brown’s death.  

The official story of Brown’s personal manager Charles Bobbit appears to have been a concern for numerous friends. Brown’s manager Frank Copsidas said: ‘The story was always a little vague.’ Andre White added: ‘It didn’t make sense.’ And friend Fannie Brown Burford said: ‘Knew he was lying right off.’

There has also been a suggestion Brown was trying to leave his lawyer Buddy Dallas and accountant David Cannon. Copsidas said: ‘He didn’t want a lot of people to know, because he was afraid Dallas and Cannon would try to stop him.’ Dallas and Cannon declined to speak on the record to CNN. 

Cannon, who died in October, had already been sentenced to three years of home confinement in 2011. He faced charges he took more money than he was allowed under contract from the late soul singer in his final years.

When Brown died his daughter Yamma declined an autopsy. It is not known why but she has said: ‘I had my own personal reasons for not doing an autopsy. I don’t want to talk about that.’. Her sister Deanna Brown Thomas would also not confirm where her dad’s remains are kept.

Shortly after his death son-in-law Darren Lumar alleged that Brown was murdered. A year after he made his allegation on local TV news Lumar himself was murdered in Atlanta in 2008 in a case that has never been solved. 

And then there is the mystery of Brown’s former hairdresser who Hollander said confessed to her she knew something about his death. Candice Hurst has denied any connection to his death, saying: ‘No, I did not kill James Brown. I would never harm a hair on his head.’  

But Jacque said she was also asked to throw a mysterious duffel bag owned by Hurst into a lake by Brown’s laywer Dallas. He declined to comment on this to CNN. Inside the bag was lingerie, combs and curlers, and a pair of black high heeled shoes. 

Lab tests on the shoe showed it had marijuana, cocaine and a prescription drug called Diltiazem on it. When asked how she could have gotten Diltiazem on her shoe Hurst said: ‘I have no idea.’ 

Dr Crawford said: ‘If she picked that up from that room, that is, the Diltiazem on the shoe, the marijuana and the cocaine, it fits our picture of being highly suspicious that somebody perhaps could have given him an illicit substance that led to his death.’

As part of its wide-ranging investigation, CNN spoke to Dr Marvin Crawford, who signed Brown’s death certificate stating his cause of death as heart attack and fluid in the lungs. 

‘He changed too fast,’ Crawford said of Brown. ‘He was a patient I would never have predicted would have coded. But he died that night, and I did raise that question: What went wrong in that room?’

A friend of Brown’s, Andre White, was said to be so concerned of the purportedly suspicious circumstances of his death that he took a vial of the singer’s blood from an IV tube.

Hollander, a former circus performer, worked with Brown in the 1980s and accused him of rape

The soul singer was never prosecuted for the alleged crime (pictured in a 2004 mugshot after he allegedly pushed wife, Tomi Rae Brown, to the floor during an argument)

Hollander, a former circus performer, worked with Brown in the 1980s and accused him of rape. The soul singer was never prosecuted for the alleged crime (pictured in a 2004 mugshot after he allegedly pushed wife, Tomi Rae Brown, to the floor during an argument)

After the soul music hitmaker drew his last breath on Christmas Day 2006, more than a dozen relatives demanded an autopsy, but his daughter Yamma refused to sign off on it.

In the years after Brown’s demise, several people connected to the late singer have died under potentially suspicious circumstances, including his own daughter, LaRhonda Pettit, and his other daughter Yamma’s husband, Darren Lumar, also both alleged the singer was murdered. 

Lumar was shot dead in November 2009. His murder has not been solved to this day.   

THE BIG ISSUES SURROUNDING JAMES BROWN’S DEATH

Nearly 140 people, 1,300 pages of text messages and tens of thousands of pages of police and court records were looked at for the extensive investigation into James Brown’s death.  

The official story of Brown’s personal manager Charles Bobbit appears to have been a concern for numerous friends. Brown’s manager Frank Copsidas said: ‘The story was always a little vague.’ Andre White added: ‘It didn’t make sense.’ And friend Fannie Brown Burford said: ‘Knew he was lying right off.’

There has also been a suggestion Brown was trying to leave his lawyer Buddy Dallas and accountant David Cannon. Copsidas said: ‘He didn’t want a lot of people to know, because he was afraid Dallas and Cannon would try to stop him.’ Dallas and Cannon declined to speak on the record to CNN. 

Cannon, who died in October, had already been sentenced to three years of home confinement in 2011. He faced charges he took more money than he was allowed under contract from the late soul singer in his final years.

When Brown died his daughter Yamma declined an autopsy. It is not known why but she has said: ‘I had my own personal reasons for not doing an autopsy. I don’t want to talk about that.’. Her sister Deanna Brown Thomas would also not confirm where her dad’s remains are kept.

Shortly after his death son-in-law Darren Lumar alleged that Brown was murdered. A year after he made his allegation on local TV news Lumar himself was murdered in Atlanta in 2008 in a case that has never been solved. 

And then there is the mystery of Brown’s former hairdresser who Hollander said confessed to her she knew something about his death. Candice Hurst has denied any connection to his death, saying: ‘No, I did not kill James Brown. I would never harm a hair on his head.’  

But Jacque said she was also asked to throw a mysterious duffel bag owned by Hurst into a lake by Brown’s laywer Dallas. He declined to comment on this to CNN. Inside the bag was lingerie, combs and curlers, and a pair of black high heeled shoes. 

Lab tests on the shoe showed it had marijuana, cocaine and a prescription drug called Diltiazem on it. When asked how she could have gotten Diltiazem on her shoe Hurst said: ‘I have no idea.’ 

Dr Crawford said: ‘If she picked that up from that room, that is, the Diltiazem on the shoe, the marijuana and the cocaine, it fits our picture of being highly suspicious that somebody perhaps could have given him an illicit substance that led to his death.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk