Like everyone else, when I received word of Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, I was in a state of shock. But when sources told me that the BMW left at the scene of Jackson’s rented mansion was registered in Texas, I had a sinking feeling. Little did I know that the connection was closer than I thought.

Actually, it was right in my back yard. A report from a local television news station stated that a Houston doctor was in Jackson’s Southern California home when he collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest. The report stated, “A medical assistant at the Acres Home Heart and Vascular Institute confirms that a doctor from there was one of Jackson’s physicians. She said Dr. Conrad Robert Murray, a cardiologist licensed to practice medicine in Texas and Nevada, was living with Michael Jackson at his rented Holmby Hills mansion. Also, Dr. Murray was with Jackson at the time he suffered cardiac arrest Thursday afternoon.”

The famed Acres Home physician, the late Dr. Rawle Andrews once practiced in walking distance of the African-American News&Issues for many years. Dr. Murray, who operates out of the Acres Home Heart and Vascular Institute, 509 W. Tidwell, and the Armstrong Medical Center, 6826 W. Montgomery Rd.—is the son of Dr. Andrews.

The Armstrong Medical Clinic has been subject to several investigations over the past few years. Dr. Murray has been in practice nearly 20 years and comes to Houston a couple of times each month.  He is also licensed to practice in the state of Nevada. In Acres Homes, he is connected with the New Acres Home Citizen Council, where Charles Ingram is president.