The coroner, Jerry Francisco assisted by Dr Eric Muirhead and Dr Noel Florrendo were in charge of the 3-hour autopsy. They ruled that Elvis death was the result of coronary arrhythmia - an irregular beating of the heart resulting from hypertensive heart disease. Initially the team of Medical Examiners told the public that Elvis Presley's death had been due to a massive heart attack. Their motive for the cover-up, they have since admitted, was not to tarnish the [Elvis] image by a scandal of a drug habit... 

For years now the battle of whether or not drugs was the only cause of death had been raging. However, till now the state medical examiner refused to be part of the gossip mongering. At the heart of the matter is a long-standing feud between Commissioner, Vasco Smith whose wife Maxine is executive director of the NAACP in Memphis and Dr Jerry Francisco the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Elvis Presley and signed the death certificate. In response to the Maxine Smith's demands, Dr Francisco stated, The autopsy on Elvis Presley was performed under strict medical conditions.

 "We are not subjected to any family pressure to limit our investigation. It was a routine autopsy to discover the cause of death. We did what was necessary with the procedures that were available at the time."

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Although Elvis' major organs such as his brain and heart are still in storage at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Dr Francisco believes that any further investigation and post-mortem analyses would not reveal any revelations surround the cause of death. In 1977 when Elvis' father Vernon Presley received the news that a cocktail of drugs prescribed by Dr George Nichopoulos had been the root cause of death, he panicked and bribed officials to keep the document a secret.  Vernon who died of heart failure, June 26 1979 can no longer bear witness to the cover-up.

However, his widow Dee Presley, who became Elvis' stepmother in 1960 says she sighted the autopsy papers and sided with her husband in his desire to keep Elvis' legacy in tact.  Applaud by these events. Graceland and the Presley family members see this feud and an autopsy investigation as using Elvis as a catalyst for scandalous gossip at it's ugliest. CEO, Jack Soden and the board members of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc which includes Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie will keep a watchful eye on the proceedings and use all their power to over-rule any court action in regards to the matter of exhuming Elvis Presley's body. "We see this as in infringement and a sacrilege of the Elvis Presley legacy. We will take this matter to the High Court if necessary

"Elvis to be Exhumed?" UPDATE 27 MARCH 2007

A suit filed in the Superior Court of Tennessee may permit the exhumation of the late King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley. The suit (docket # 06-08 38116) has been filed anonymously by a couple in Germantown TN in order to see if that is Elvis who is buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland. The couple has retained famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey to represent their case. The suit contends that the public may not have been told the truth due to the suspicious nature of the circumstances surrounding 
the death of one of the world's greatest entertainers. In an interview on the Larry King Show Mr. Bailey said, "We all know about the 900 pound casket and the supposed air conditioning unit, but what about all the other variables.

Elvis Death | Elvis Cause of Death  

"For example, Mr. Bailey continued, there was a large sum of money transferred from the Memphis Bank and Trust which we all know handled Elvis' assets, in early August of 1977, to a bank in the state of Michigan. We have employees of the bank, who after years of silence, are coming forward to support this claim. The fact that it was Michigan is relevant because of the tremendous number of sightings of Elvis in Michigan". 

When pressed by Larry King for more Mr. Bailey continued. "Larry, we have very credible evidence from a former IRS agent and of course at this time we can't give his name, that Elvis Presley and not the Elvis Presley Estate has been paying income taxes since 1977. This former agent had access to returns of celebrities and very rich people and came across this highly sensitive and classified material inadvertently" F. Lee Bailey who achieved notoriety in the 1950's defending Sam Sheppard and then in the 1990's with O.J.Simpson continued."

Larry that last picture of Elvis that his cousin took for the National Enquirer looks more like Elvis in his 20s. We have subpoenaed the Enquirer for the negative, in order to run a neutron activation analysis in order to determine the makeup of the object in the photograph". "Larry, if you add up the numbers of Elvis' death date 8-16-1977it totals 2001. His theme song was 2001 Space Odyssey. I'd say that in itself is an odyssey". Mr. Bailey then stated, "The US Mail continues to deliver all of Elvis' mail to Graceland and not one single letter has ever been Returned to Sender. What does that tell you Larry? Larry they said we didn't have a chance defending O.J. and look what happened. Johnnie Cochran said, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit". Larry, I'm no Johnnie Cochran but I will leave you with this, "If we can debunk all this jive, I'd say there is a good chance that Elvis is alive!"