This Day in History: br Marilyn Monroe br Is Found Dead August 5, 1962 Monroe was found br in her bed, surrounded br by empty pill bottles. An autopsy revealed a br fatal dose of sedatives in br her system, and her death br was ruled a probable suicide. She had been under br constant psychiatric care br since the year before, living a br reclusive life in her Los Angeles home. Her death inspired conspiracy br theories, involving affairs with br then President Kennedy and br Attorney General Robert Kennedy. In the 1980s, Monroe's maid br declared controversially that br Robert Kennedy had fought br with Monroe the night she died. The model turned actress br has remained a cultural icon br for more than half a century.