Private Investigator: Whitney Houston was Murdered by Drug Dealers

Despite the official coroner's report of the late pop star Whitney Houston last February, which stated that she died from accidental drowning in her Beverly Hills Hotel bathtub with an "acute dose" of cocaine and other drugs in her system, a Los Angeles private investigator is now claiming that the 48-year-old icon was murdered by drug dealers whom she owed lots of money.

Paul Huebel, a former police officer, claims that two individuals killed Houston after they were sent by a big-time drug dealer to collect Houston's debts. He also says he has video evidence from the hotel's surveillance tapes of the two men entering Houston's hotel room a few hours before she was discovered dead. According to Huebel, they came to the hotel on a periodic basis, and at the time of her death, her debt to one particular drug dealer had exceeded $1.5 million.

Huebel rejects the coroner's report, which discounts any conspiracy or murder theories. He's submitted his compiled evidence to the FBI for further investigation. Houston's body had sustained a number of injuries: bruises, cuts, scrapes, and a nasty burn on her back. These all could have occurred if there was a struggle. The temperature of her bath water was also unreasonably hot, scalding even. Hours after she died, the temperature of the water was 33 C (93.5 F). Huebel believes that even someone on cocaine would not willingly get in a scalding bath.

"Call this an accident if you want, but it doesn't make sense to me," Huebel said. He hopes the new information will help federal investigators arrive at the truth.