Heiress Casey Johnson to be buried on East Coast; questions over death remain

The family of Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson has settled on memorial plans as the L.A. County coroner's office continues to investigate the circumstances of her untimely death this week in L.A.'s Westside.

Johnson was to be buried in a private ceremony on the East Coast. A memorial fund has been set up in her name at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Johnson, 30, suffered from diabetes, but it's unclear if it played a role in her death. An autopsy was performed, but officials said the findings were inconclusive. More tests are being performed.

A preliminary investigation by homicide investigators found nothing to suggest that Johnson died of anything other than natural causes. She was found inside her home.

And sources with the Los Angeles Police Department -- who spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the ongoing investigation -- believe the cause was "medically related."

The personal life of Johnson, the daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and the girlfriend of reality TV star Tila Tequila, has long been a staple for celebrity gossip sites and tabloids including Page Six, which dubbed the heiress to the Johnson & Johnson empire the "baby-oil heiress."

Johnson called it "the stupidest mistake of my life" to turn down an invitation from pal Paris Hilton to costar on "The Simple Life." The role went to Nicole Richie.

Johnson was featured in "It Girls," a 2002 documentary about the young and rich in Manhattan.

There were signs of strain in Johnson's life in the last few years.

She became locked in a struggle with her mother over custody of Ava-Monroe, a baby born in Kazakhstan who was adopted by Johnson in 2007.

Most recently, Johnson was arrested and charged in December in connection with a break-in at the home of Jasmine Lennard, another reality television star and former girlfriend.

Johnson was charged with first-degree residential burglary and receiving stolen property for allegedly taking $22,000 in clothing, jewelry, handbags, personal mail and other items. She pleaded not guilty and was due back in court Feb. 11 for a preliminary hearing.

--Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Getty Images

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Comments

[Tourist]

Too sad and tragic. Particularly that no one knew she was missing for days. Guess all that partying makes for fair-weather friends. There must be more.

[ray]

She sure sounds like a loser.

[Nicole]

She's the heiress of the Johnson & Johnson company, yet they have set up a memorial fund for her??? Are they kidding me??? Obviously she didn't die from diabetes. So how can they sleep at night using money through a foundation that is used for people IN NEED?!?!?! Just lame.

[Gaucho420]

It must be quite the effort to complicate one's life, when you truly have very little to worry about.

[p.f.stone]

Estate and Tax attorneys will have a second office pool to buy squares
from in addition to the Super Bowl final scores grid.

Winners and losers to be determined at probate of decedents estate.

These squares are still available:

1.) beneficiary interest in family trust ceases at death - siblings share of trust assets increase.

2.) beneficiary interest in trust passes to heirs and she was intestate, California law passes her estate first to children.
In that scenario her estate will pass to her only child - an adopted daughter. Casey's mother would then be custodian of the estate because the child was recently put under her custody.

3.) Tila Tequila shows up with a will and becomes newest Johnson & Johnson heir.

4.) L.A. County Coroner places time of death at 11:58 P.M. on December 31, 2009. That triggers morbid competition between I.R.S. and Johnson family
to lock-up expert witness services of the nations top 50 coroners for legal dispute over time of death.
Heirs claim 12:02 am January 1 2010 is medically accurate ( and lifts burden of Federal estate tax).
Televised hearings steal rating crown from C.S.I. as they slowly grind toward Supreme Court showdown.

I am certain the C.P.A.'s in your house can come up with a few other scenarios.

Regardless. These Johnson scions run a heavy streak of scandals, estrangements and early deaths. WOW!

This should be a wake-up call for the multi - millionaires on up who are still
associating with family members.

GET AWAY! NOW! RUN!

Because the Federal Estate Tax has been eliminated for 2010 and is scheduled to resume full-force on Jan.1, 2011,
there exists an incredibly powerful financial incentive for your heirs to celebrate their luck should you kick the bucket this year.
Some of them may be tempted to give luck a little assistance.
Or perhaps a big shove.

So if your not already airlocked in a secret subterranean compound or plying international waters in a retrofitted surplus Navy destroyer, get movin NOW.
Or stay put and order swatches Fed-Exed from Gabe's Granite and Marble to
narrow down the selections for your headstone.

Another 359 days remain that your heirs must not be able to come near you.
If you feel like calling them, be certain the call is placed from a secure untraceable line.

Should you receive a gift of baked goods ,etc. - don't even bother with a food tester. Just reheat them in a high-temp incinerator.

They are not all bad kids.

But they are greedy.

and spoiled. and vain. and petty. and amoral.

They can hardly bear sharing the inheritance with their siblings,
much less the I.R.S.

2010 is the JUBILEE.

If you want to survive, its time to hide.

That means you Woody Johnson.

[BRYAN]

does anyone really care about this besides her family and friends? why is this in the news anyway?

[Du ewa Lahmar]

I am so sorry about casy' death. She had so much to live for. Young and beautiful. I think that every rich person should know someone the is extremly po. Here I am a single mom raising a daughter with a 3.99 average and wants to go to Stanford. I don't know How in the Hell I am going pull this off. I am trapped in Dearborn Mi. Can't afford to move let alone buy a House. We had to wait 4 weeks whe our frig. blew just to purchase a new one. But, we are happy. Thank God it is cold outside the food can sit out.lol.....She had everything but was not happy! Go figure! I am so sorry she was a wonderful human being. Ms dewey Lahmar from Dearborn.

[mastrclndr]

I realize that this knucklehead of an individual made the news primarily due to her relation to the Johnson family. That being said . . although she rolled around in a perverted manner with the low-life hollywood jet-drug-set and her name garnered her admission into their exclusive crap culture club. . . there is little about her if anything the general public ever knew about her. So please . . do the public and her family a favor and drop this mind-numbing story that nobody cares about. She's as significant as every other nobody.

[mastrclndr]

I really don't understand the love affair with a culture of celebrities that have nothing but their self-promotion, crap behavior, and subsequent deaths to attribute their notariety. I mean . . look at The Khardashians . . a family that's only claim to fame was their father who possibly helped make a briefcase of OJ's disappear and assist in his getaway. He was possibly little more than an opportunist and a high paid criminal. But here, years later we have reality TV with the girs waving their asses for the camera to pan on and create pseudo drama. Does anyone out there realize how trashy the US and LA, and Hollywood appear to be to the rest of the world? Based on our crap culture . . I can easily understand the Islamists jihad on western (lack of) civilization

[ladyofargonne]

Nicole: the memorial fund is set up in her memory so that leiu of flowers people can make donations to the diabetes foundation.

[Millyboo]

Oh thats terrible..I hate being caught up in the hole Hollywood bubble...people need to pay more respect..Tragic such as MJ...TV Guide is show a blurb on Michael Jackson...see what fame can do to most of us..who can stand it?