Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case

The explosive definitive account of the Michael Jackson saga, chronicling the King of Pop’s battles against child molestation charges from 1993 to 2005, from award-winning journalist Diane Dimond, who broke the story first, more than a decade ago.

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Michael Jackson has long captured the world’s attention, first as the dynamic lead singer of the Jackson Five, then during his highly successful breakout solo career. But somewhere along the line Jackson transformed himself into something hardly recognizable and was investigated — not once, but twice — for crimes we could hardly imagine.

Even now, after his unexpected acquittal on multiple charges of child molestation, there is a sense that the real truth behind the allegations is not known. The character of Michael Jackson — from his humble beginnings to his rich career and the birth of Neverland Ranch — is destined for great debate among fans, journalists, historians, and psychiatrists for years to come. In the meantime, there is Diane Dimond, the journalist of record on the Jackson case.

In November 2003, when the Santa Barbara county sheriff’s department conducted another raid on Neverland Ranch, Diane Dimond and her Court TV camera crews were the only ones there to capture the moment and report the news to the world. Now, for the first time, Dimond recounts the multifaceted details of the Jackson case, utilizing her extensive notes and sources. What she tells us is a shocking story.

Be Careful Who You Love will take you behind the scenes and into the courtroom of one of the most controversial cases of the decade, while giving readers a dramatic glimpse of one award winning reporter’s vigilance and unending quest to uncover the truth. This book is the explosive definitive account of the Michael Jackson saga.

The Following Excerpt © Reprinted by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter One: The Body Search

It had to have been the most extraordinarily humiliating day of Michael Jackson’s life. On December 20, 1993, a team of investigators arrived at the entertainer’s sprawling ranch in Los Olivos, California. In their possession was a search warrant giving them the legal right to visually examine and photograph Jackson’s body, including his buttocks, penis, and scrotum.

Four months earlier, a twelve-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler from Santa Monica, California, had told a psychiatrist that the pop star had molested him over a period of months while he and his family were traveling with Jackson and while they were guests at his Neverland Ranch. The boy had provided a detailed description, including a hand-drawn image, of what he claimed to be Michael Jackson’s sex organs.

Now, authorities were in Jackson’s driveway, determined to learn whether the boy’s depiction was accurate. Clutching a bag full of gear, a police photographer was among the investigative team. His assignment was to make a detailed photographic record of the King of Pop’s genitals.

As agreed upon, the investigative team had arrived at Neverland at 4:45 P.M. Among them were Santa Barbara district attorney Tom Sneddon, Santa Barbara police detective Russ Birchim, Santa Barbara sheriff’s office photographer Gary Spiegel, LAPD detective Frederico Sicard, and Dr. Richard Strick, a dermatologist.

The group had rented a limousine to ensure that if they were spotted driving into the sprawling compound they would not be recognized by the media, which had been hovering ever since Jackson had returned to the States ten days earlier aboard a private jet. He had entered the country under the radar through Billings, Montana, after a reported stay in drug rehab* and after canceling the remainder of his worldwide Dangerous Tour.

A prearranged password was provided to security members manning the gates before the team was granted entry to the property. Once inside, the officials were directed to a parking area adjacent to one of the estate’s main buildings, where Jackson’s criminal defense lawyers, Johnnie Cochran and Howard Weitzman, stood waiting.

The two attorneys had just flown in via helicopter from Los Angeles. As they stood speaking with officials on the driveway, three helicopters hovered far overhead. From their markings, it was clear they were from the news media.

Pulling the district attorney aside, Cochran quietly explained that his client was “apprehensive” and “reluctant” about the pending body search. The lawyer asked for patience and then left the group in the driveway while he went back inside the expansive Tudor-style mansion to try to convince Jackson to allow the lawmen to carry out what they came to do.

The officials finally got so cold waiting outside in the frigid December air that they returned to the warmth of their car to wait.

One hour passed before the second Jackson attorney, Howard Weitzman, finally rapped on the vehicle’s window to inform the team of a further delay. The lawyer appeared helpless to change the situation but suggested that the district attorney set a deadline he could take back to his client.

Tom Sneddon, who is not known as a man who likes to be kept waiting, said simply, “Ten minutes.”

Clearly, Jackson took the deadline seriously because in exactly ten minutes his attorney was back to report that his client was finally ready. The team was escorted to a building away from the main house to what appeared to be the ranch’s security office, where they were introduced to Jackson’s two personal physicians — Dr. David Forecast, an MD from London, England, and Dr. Arnold Klein, a Beverly Hills dermatologist who has often been cited as the doctor who provides Michael Jackson with the skin-bleaching cream he uses daily. Klein was also the employer of a nurse named Debbie Rowe, who would later marry Jackson and give birth to two of his children. Jackson had insisted that both doctors be present for the execution of the search warrant.

Jackson’s chief of security, Bill Bray, and a personal Jackson photographer named Louis Swayne were also in the office when the team arrived.

After some time, the sheriff’s photographer and the two detectives, Birchim and Sicard, were led upstairs to a compact room just to the right of the second-floor landing. The officers immediately noticed Michael Jackson, who was seated on a small couch and wearing only a beige bathrobe. At his side was Dr. Forecast, the attending physician who had reportedly squired Jackson through his drug rehab program just weeks prior.

Jackson appeared uneasy as the group filed in. The close quarters suddenly felt even more cramped with Detectives Birchim and Sicard, Doctors Strick, Klein, and Forecast, and Jackson’s photographer, Louis Swayne, all but hovering over the pop star.

To ease the strain, Detective Birchim reached out his hand to make an introduction. “I am Detective Russ Birchim of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. I realize this procedure is unpleasant for you, and we appreciate your cooperation,” he told the entertainer.

Detective Sicard politely introduced himself as well.

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