LOS ANGELES (LALATE EXCLUSIVE) – Michael Jackson’s rented home at 100 North Carlwood (photos below) dominated Conrad Murray opening statements today. Michael Jackson fans flooded 100 North Carlwood Drive in Bel Air after his death, prompting street closures near the Beverly Hills border. Today, the attention in a Los Angeles courtroom was back on the place where Conrad Murray was treating Jackson.
Six months before Jackson’s passing, LALATE first broke news that Jackson was renting the home located in a section of Holmby Hills. The home was minutes east of UCLA Medical Center where Jackson was rushed to in his final moments.
Jackson began renting the home around December 2008, LALATE first reported. It was believed at the time that the rental was between Jackson’s camp and Roxanne Guez. Guez was the wife of an Ed Hardy head.
Throughout 2008, Jackson was very close with Ed Hardy’s Christian Audigier; the two announced several anticipated business deals that year. But Jackson made news during a very rare public appearance for Christian Audigier’s birthday with Britney Spears that year.
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After months of isolation in 2008, Jackson finally made his first major appearance at Christian Audiger’s birthday. Then, in the weeks that followed, reports confirmed that Jackson was staying at 100 North Carolwood. Ironically, only in October 2008, Guez had reportedly joined Ed Hardy as its new Chief Executive.
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In June 2008, Audigier told news that he was launching a fashion label with Jackson. “It’s the merging of the King of Pop with the king of fashion. Something explosive is going to happen,” Christian told PEOPLE at the time. The Jackson label was set to debut at Kitson reportedly.
“Michael Jackson is an international pop icon who has had a huge following throughout his career. I think people will think it’s hip to wear his line. Through all his ups and downs people still love him. He still has a huge fan base,” said Kitson owner Fraser Ross to PEOPLE.
After Jackson’s passing, reports claimed that Christian Audigier wanted to buy Neverland Ranch. It remains unclear what eventually happened with the deal. “I can have the house in one month now,” Audigier told news at the time. “I get the keys two weeks from today.”
Then during a September 3, 2009 news interview, Audigier told news that the Holmby Hills home was owned by the boss of his company, Hubert Guez, when Jackson died.
With HLN and other tv news channels now devoting around the clock coverage of Jackson’s final moments before his death, attention is expected to be back on the mansion and what transpired between Jackson and Murray. Moreover, news reports have confirmed that both the prosecution and defense will focus on Murray’s interaction with LAFD when Jackson was taken from Holmby Hills to Westwood’s UCLA Medical Center.
Just months ago, Hopespring Drive in Chickasaw Oaks, and Suburban Drive in east Orange County was the focus of a nation. HLN news reporters continued to visit the location of Caylee Anthony’s remains. They analyzed the path from the Anthony family house to the location of Caylee’s remains. While LAPD has yet to confirm to news if street closures will be in place during the Murray trial, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had to restrict traffic around the Anthony family home in the Chickasaw Oaks subdivision during the Casey Anthony trial.
