CNN
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When her brother died, Kimberly McCrory sent a text message to the person she believes sold him the drugs that killed him.
After receiving his brother’s phone from police, McCrory found text chats with a possible dealer that showed his brother paying for ketamine through Venmo.
“After his death certificate was issued, I wrote back and said, ‘Just to be clear, the ketamine that you sold to my brother is listed as the cause of his death,'” she told CNN.
McCrary never heard back from her. “I just assumed she didn’t care,” she said.
Suspected drug dealer Jasveen Sangha was one of five people charged Thursday in an 18-count indictment linked to the death of actor Matthew Perry. Authorities detailed a mysterious connection between the world-famous actor and aspiring personal trainer Cody McCrory. Prosecutors said both men died after using ketamine allegedly supplied by the same dealer, whose street name was “The Ketamine Queen.”
Multiple arrests made in connection with Matthew Perry’s death
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its investigation into Perry’s death that it uncovered an underground network of doctors and drug suppliers who allegedly distributed ketamine, a deadly controlled substance that led to Perry’s death in October at age 54.
Sangha has pleaded not guilty to multiple drug-related charges, including those that occurred in the death of Cody McCrory in August 2019. She has not been charged with directly contributing to McCrory’s death.
CNN has reached out to her lawyer for comment.
McCrory was living in Los Angeles when he fatally overdosed at age 33, four years before Perry and hours after the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges Sangha sold him ketamine.
“He had a very close and strong circle of friends in Los Angeles,” his sister said. “He loved living there. He was a very sweet person.”
Kimberly McCrory said that after Los Angeles Police Department investigators visited their Washington home earlier this year, the family began to suspect Cody’s death was connected to Perry’s.
According to court documents, after receiving the text from Kimberly McCrory, Sangha did a Google search by typing, “Can ketamine be listed as a cause of death?”
Prosecutors cited the Google searches and argued that Sangha knew “unsupervised and improper use of ketamine could be fatal,” the indictment alleged.
In Perry’s case, prosecutors also charged four other people, including two doctors and a live-in personal assistant, with supplying drugs to Perry.
McCrory watched a news conference about the indictment Thursday in her home state of Washington. “It brought up a lot of emotions. There’s sadness, but also a sense of exoneration,” she said.
“She was an uncaring, uncaring person who thought selling drugs was her job and she was going to move on with her life,” McLaury said of Sangha.
Since Perry’s death, debate about ketamine has intensified, mainly because of its wide range of uses.
Ketamine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a short-acting anesthetic in humans and animals in medical settings, often administered intravenously. It is not approved for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, but is increasingly prescribed off-label to treat chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.
Esketamine, a derivative of ketamine, is approved for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression in adults. The drug, Spravato, is administered as a nasal spray.
As further medical uses for the drug are researched, some experts have expressed concern about the potential for abuse and dependence through misuse.
Ketamine has long been used as a party drug, but recent studies have found an increase in the supply of illicit ketamine in the United States.
Using ketamine without medical supervision can lead to dangerous adverse events, including loss of consciousness and dangerously slowed breathing.
The coroner determined Perry’s cause of death was “acute effects of ketamine” followed by drowning.
Dr. Gupta explains how ketamine led to Matthew Perry’s death
Perry was found floating face down in a freestanding hot tub at her Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28, 2023. Authorities said at the time that no foul play was involved.
Cody McCrory’s death did not receive the same amount of publicity as Perry’s, but his sister said she “never thought anything would come of his death, but I’m glad he’s being included in this investigation.”
“I’m pleased that justice has been achieved and that after five years (my brother’s) death has been investigated,” she said.
CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht and Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.
