Following the sorrowful death of B.B. King, two of his daughters, Karen Williams and Patty King, accused his two closest aides of hastening his death by way of poison. They allege that family members were prevented from visitation while B.B. King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, were the only people with him.
Toney and Johnson have declined to comment on the accusations, but Toney, who worked for B.B. King for 39 years and had power-of-attorney over his affairs, has shrugged off the daughters’ claims and stated that “[t]hey’ve been making allegations all along. What’s new?” Toney serves as the executor of King’s estate that, according to court documents filed by lawyers for some of King’s heirs, could total tens of millions of dollars.
An autopsy was performed on King on Sunday, May 25, and the test results will take up to eight weeks. An affidavit from Patty King, a former resident of B.B. King’s home, says that she saw Johnson administer two drops of an unknown substance onto B.B. King’s tongue during evenings for several months before his death, and that Toney never explained to her what the substance was. However, John Fudenberg, the Clark County Coroner, issued a statement saying that there was no immediate evidence supporting the murder allegations, and the Las Vegas Police Department has explained that there will be no investigation until Fudenberg determines that B.B. King’s death resulted from anything other than natural causes.