On Thursday, authorities revealed that five individuals, including Perry’s personal assistant and a woman dubbed the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles,” have been arrested in connection with Perry’s overdose death last fall.
Although Perry, who was 54 at the time of his death, did not leave behind a wife or children, he was survived by a close-knit family, including his parents, siblings, and stepfather Keith Morrison, a well-known journalist from Dateline.
Morrison has been married to Perry’s mother since 1981 and was deeply involved in Perry’s life.
In response to the arrests, Perry’s family issued a statement to NBC News, expressing their grief and appreciation for the efforts of law enforcement. “We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death, but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously. We look forward to justice taking its course,” the statement read.
Perry’s death, initially reported as an apparent drowning in October 2023, was later attributed to the acute effects of ketamine, an anesthetic, along with other contributing factors such as drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction. At the time of his death, toxicology reports revealed that Perry had approximately 3.54 micrograms per milliliter of ketamine in his bloodstream, nearly three times the typical amount.
Reflecting on his stepson’s passing, Morrison shared his sorrow during a March interview with Hoda Kotb on her podcast, Making Space. “As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn’t go away,” Morrison, 77, said. “It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain. It’s not easy, especially for his mom.”
Morrison, who was listed as the informant on Perry’s death certificate, had the heartbreaking task of identifying his stepson to authorities. He also reflected on Perry’s lifelong battle with addiction, noting: “He felt like he was beating it. But you never beat it, and he knew that, too.”
Perry had been open about his struggles with addiction and detailed his experiences in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. In the book, he discussed his use of ketamine, a drug he received during treatment at a Swiss rehab clinic amid the pandemic. “Ketamine was a very popular street drug in the 1980s. There is a synthetic form of it now, and it’s used for two reasons: to ease pain and help with depression,” Perry wrote, adding, “Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’”
At the time of his death, Perry was undergoing ketamine therapy for depression. However, according to the coroner, the ketamine found in his system could not have been from his treatment, as the drug’s half-life is only three to four hours, and Perry’s last treatment had been over a week before his death.
The investigation led to the arrest of Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s assistant, and two doctors, Dr. Mark Chavez and Dr. Salvador Plasencia. They face multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Authorities also charged Perry’s friend Erik Fleming and Jasveen Sangha, the latter being accused of operating as the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles.”
According to the indictment, Dr. Plasencia, who worked at an urgent care center, allegedly helped Perry obtain additional ketamine despite being aware of his history of drug abuse.
When asked by Kotb if he was surprised by Perry’s death, Morrison responded, “It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might. Yes and no, I guess is the answer to that.”
