Did Marilyn Monroe’s body go missing and what happened?
FILM icon Marilyn Monroe was found dead at her LA home in 1962, but what happened to her body after she died?
Rumours have swirled that her body was abandoned for hours, and even went missing, after she was found - here's what we know.
Did Marilyn Monroe's body go missing?
Some rumours have claimed that Marilyn's body went missing after she died.
Speculation has suggested that nobody could find the body for up to ten hours on the day that she died.
Years later, Dr Thomas Noguchi, who carried out the autopsy on Monroe, claimed that samples taken for the toxicology report were "destroyed"
However, no proof has yet been found that this was the case and no official confirmation offered about whether or not she went missing.
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What happened to Marilyn's body after she died?
While there is no evidence to support the claim that Marilyn went missing, her body was allegedly 'abandoned' in the local morgue.
The Some Like It Hot actress had been found lifeless and nude in bed by housekeeper Eunice Murray.
Allan Abbott, who ran the funeral service for Monroe, later wrote that the famous bombshell was "almost unrecognisable" after her death.
He said: "When we removed the sheet covering her, it was almost impossible to believe this was the body of Marilyn Monroe. She looked like a very average, aging woman who had not been taking very good care of herself.
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"Obviously, the circumstances surrounding her death had greatly exacerbated her poor appearance and she was unrecognizable."
Morticians even had to perform surgery to reduce Monroe's facial swelling, caused by blood rushing to her head as she died face down.
Eventually, her body was claimed by her ex-husband, famous baseball player Joe DiMaggio, with whom she was still close.
Her funeral was held days later, with around 30 of the film star's friends and family in attendance.
She was buried in a green Emilio Pucci dress, holding a bouquet of pink roses.
What was Marilyn Munroe's cause of death?
The world's most famous sex symbol often struggled to cope with the attention and scrutiny that her fame brought.
The Hollywood star struggled with the breakdown of her marriages to DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller and became addicted to barbiturates, a type of anti-anxiety medication.
She died of a drug overdose at the age of just 36.
Her death was ruled to be a probably suicide, although there is speculation over whether it was an accidental overdose.