BB King was poisoned, daughters claim, but lawyer calls claims ‘ridiculous’

Reading Time:3 minutes

Late blues legend B.B. King, whose daughters are accusing his manager and personal assistant of hastening his death. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00am, 26 May 2015Updated: 10:08pm, 26 May 2015

Two of BB King's children who have been most outspoken about the blues legend’s care in his final days are accusing King’s two closest aides of poisoning him. But the attorney for King’s estate is calling the claims ridiculous.

Three doctors determined that King was appropriately cared for, and King received 24-hour care and monitoring by medical professionals “up until the time that he peacefully passed away in his sleep”, attorney Brent Bryson said on Monday.

But daughters Karen Williams and Patty King allege that family members were prevented from visiting while King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, hastened their father’s death.

Toney is named in King’s will as executor of an estate that, according to court documents filed by lawyers for some of King’s heirs, could total tens of millions of dollars.

Shirley King (right), daughter of BB King, has accused the blues legend's business manager of foul play in her father's death earlier this month. Photo: AP

Johnson was at BB King’s bedside when he died May 14 in hospice care at home in Las Vegas at age 89. No family members were present.

“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” Patty King and Williams say in identically worded sections of affidavits provided by their lawyer, Larissa Drohobyczer.