The legal situation following the death of blues legend B.B. King took a messy turn on Monday. Two of his daughters, Karen Williams and Patty King, said in affidavits provided to the Press by the daughters’ lawyer that in addition to limiting family contact with the late guitarist, King’s business manager LaVerne Toney and personal assistant Myron Johnson poisoned King to quicken his death.
“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” Williams and Patty King reportedly said in the affidavit. “I believe my father was murdered.” Las Vegas homicide detectives are investigating B.B. King’s death, but added no further information.
Toney is named as the executor of King’s will and held his power of attorney. “The family is sticking together … to oust Ms. Toney based on her illegal conduct, conflicts of interest, and self-dealing,” the daughters’ lawyer Larissa Drohobyczer told the AP.
Brent Bryson, the attorney working for King’s estate, had this to say about the family’s comments: “I hope they have a factual basis that they can demonstrate for their defamatory and libelous allegations.”
King died May 14 due to a series of small strokes related to his type 2 diabetes, according to the coroner. The full results of the autopsy could take up to eight weeks.
