NYPD officials inexplicably dropped plans yesterday to interview Heath Ledger's diminutive dish Mary-Kate Olsen about frantic phone calls she received from the masseuse who found the actor dead.
Questions loom over whether the Police Department came under pressure from Olsen's considerable legal machine.
The department's about-face shocked veteran law enforcement officials, who said that interviewing Olsen was something straight out of Investigation 101 - especially considering that toxicology reports are still pending.
"For them to say they are not doing this [interviewing Olsen] is ridiculous," said retired NYPD homicide investigator Vernon Geberth, and author of "Practical Homicide Investigation."
"If you are telling me that the Police Department is not going to interview Mary-Kate Olsen, they are making a major, major mistake."
After news of the 28-year-old Ledger's shocking death Tuesday, reporters tried to contact Olsen's attorney regarding phone calls from the masseuse to the "Full House" star.
There were reports that the masseuse called the star three times before contacting the authorities - and one time afterwards - and that Olsen told her she was sending her own private security to help.
Olsen's attorney, Michael Miller, immediately responded that if a reporter were to write "anything that is false or defamatory about Mary-Kate Olsen in connection with Heath Ledger's death, you and the New York Post will be sued."
Miller would not comment yesterday.
While the NYPD declined to interview the rich and famous waif, there are questions that simply cannot be ignored:
* Why would Olsen not immediately tell the masseuse to call 911?
* What possible role could a trio of security guards - one with a pistol license - have in the medical emergency?
* Were any of the guards qualified to administer CPR?
There was a nine-minute lag between when the masseuse, Diane Lee Wolozin, first discovered Ledger's body and when she called 911. In that time, she called Olsen three times.
