Keith Morrison responds to arrests in connection with the death of his stepson Matthew Perry

Keith Morrison, the veteran Date line Correspondent and stepfather of Matthew Perry, speaks out after five people from the late Friends Star was arrested in connection with his death in 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine.

“We were and still are deeply saddened by Matthew's death, but it has helped us to know that law enforcement took his case very seriously,” the Morrison family said Thursday in a statement released to the Weekly entertainment“We look forward to justice being served, and we are grateful for the extraordinary work of the many agencies whose agents investigated Matthew's death. We hope the unscrupulous suppliers of dangerous drugs get the message.”

The statement came following a press conference by the U.S. Department of Justice in which charges were filed against five people allegedly involved in Perry's death: Kenneth Iwamasa, the actor's personal assistant; Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, both doctors; Erik Fleming, an acquaintance of Perry's; and Jasveen Sangha, who is known locally as the “ketamine queen,” according to local prosecutors.

“These defendants exploited Mr. Perry's addiction problems to enrich themselves,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said during the press conference, adding that they were “more interested in profiting from Mr. Perry than in working for his well-being.”

According to officials, Iwamasa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, Chavez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine, and Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine and distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Perry was found unconscious in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28 and was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 54 years old. At the time, authorities said there was no evidence of foul play. In December, an autopsy report found Perry's death was caused by ketamine and that drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine (a drug used to treat opioid use disorder) were also contributing factors.

The autopsy report also noted that Perry had been receiving a ketamine infusion at the time of his death. However, because ketamine has a short half-life, the traces of the substance in his body could not have come from any of those treatment sessions.

Morrison – who married Perry's mother Suzanne in 1981 when Perry was 12 – spoke publicly about his stepson's untimely death in November. In a fundraising appeal to the Matthew Perry Foundation, Morrison wrote on social media: “This is not something I normally do, a pitch like this. But this year is different… Do what you can; he would have been grateful.”

In March, Morrison told Hoda Kotb that Perry was “happy” before his death, “and he said so. And he hasn't said that in a long time.” He added that his stepson “didn't have his third performance, and that's not fair.”

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Stars who worked closely with Perry continue to mourn his passing, including Lisa Kudrow, who recently revealed that she rewatched the series. Friends for the first time in a long time to remember her friend and fellow actor. “Matthew is obviously just uniquely funny,” she said The Hollywood Reporter in June. “No one before him knew this cadence or this comedic rhythm.”

Courteney Cox also said CBS Sunday Morning that she still thinks Perry is “probably one of the funniest people in the world.” In her grief, she admitted that she still felt his presence, saying, “I definitely feel Matthew being there.”