Los Angeles - A massive public memorial for Michael Jackson is expected to take place in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, local media reported Thursday. The decision was made after Jackson family members met with authorities and the Los Angeles Police Department was preparing a huge deployment to deal with the influx of fans, Los Angeles television station KTLA reported.
Plans to hold the memorial at Jackson's home in Neverland had to be cancelled because of the difficulties expected in dealing with thousands of fans in the remote region. But Jackson's brother Jermaine told the Today Show Thursday that the family still hoped to make the fantasy-like refuge his final resting place once permits were obtained.
Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined the investigation into Jackson's death following evidence that the singer had desperately sought the powerful sedative Diprivan days before his death from cardiac arrest on June 25. The drug is used in hospitals as an anaesthetic.
Jermaine said the family has been deeply hurt by speculation that an overdose of prescription drugs may have caused Jackson's death. "For people to come forward to say things they don't have the facts (to back up) is very damaging for the family, to me, to us. Because we don't know," he said in the interview, conducted at Neverland.
