The Marilyn Tapes

Questions Still Remain About The Movie Star's Death

(CBS) 
The phone records are not the only files about Marilyn's death that are in question. Nearly all of the police files are gone. The official explanation: They were "destroyed in compliance with departmental procedures."

For all the mystery surrounding the death of Monroe, Karch believes Marilyn herself can provide answers - all it would take are a few strands of that famously blonde hair.

"Somebody would have to open the crypt and take some hair and analyze it," he explains.

Karch says tests could be run to look for poisons or paralyzing drugs, something that was not done back then. Karch would also like to test for each of the drugs found at her bedside, including a bottle of peach colored pills that has never been identified.

Carroll's investigation did not go to the extreme of opening Marilyn's crypt. But after examining the available evidence, it did reach a conclusion: there was "absolutely nothing" that led him to believe that a murder was involved. "We uncovered absolutely no evidence of an intentional criminal act with respect to her death," he says.

"Any evidence the Kennedy brothers were involved in Marilyn Monroe’s death?" Van Sant asked.

"No evidence of their involvement in her death ever came up with the exception that she was despondent," Carroll replied. "The cause of her despondency could have been one of the brothers. But in terms of involvement with a criminal activity, absolutely none."

The conclusion: It was an accidental overdose or suicide that killed Marilyn. In fact, newly released documents say Marilyn “had obtained secretly … a large and lethal stock of Nembutal and Chloral Hydrate.”

But Karch is still troubled by what we don't know. "I would classify this as an undetermined cause of death, pending further testing. And that’s a perfectly legitimate diagnosis."

As for the burning question of whether there was a cover-up?

"If there was no murder, there was nothing to cover-up except embarrassing information or connections," says Carroll, whose team never looked into that.

Carroll says it wasn't his job to pursue whether friends of the Kennedy family were trying to protect their reputation; he says his job was to find out if Monroe had been murdered.

"Why do you believe there was a cover-up?" Van Sant asked Hefner.

"I think that her death had political implications, particular in Washington with the Kennedys," he replied.

Did Bobby Kennedy come to say goodbye that day? The truth might have been in Marilyn’s bedroom. But her diary, if she had one, phone records, and police files may be lost to history.

All that’s left is her legacy. Marilyn died beautiful, famous and alone.

"She was just hoping to find something that would be the answer," says Carmen. "And she never found it. She was looking in the wrong places."

Hefner plans to be buried right next to Marilyn at Westwood Cemetery. "I feel such a kinship and close connection for all that she has meant to all of us but most especially to me, the fact that I will be residing to eternity seemed very appropriate."

And Curtis paints Marilyn. "I paint here to capture her again," he says. "I’m always trying to remember her. Things that perhaps I’ve forgotten about her, the shoes she wore, the way she would smile, the way she’d look over her shoulder."

"She is the stuff that dreams are made of," Hefner said. "We loved her and we love her still. And that never dies."