LOS ANGELES (AP) — After a lifetime of sobriety struggles, Matthew Perry spent the last days of his life desperately seeking the ketamine that would ultimately cause his death.
The 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that followed came to a close Wednesday with the sentencing of his personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who bought him the drugs, gave him injections, and found him dead in the hot tub of the house they shared on Oct. 23, 2023. The 54-year-old
“Friends” star had told Iwamasa to shoot him up “with a big one.”
Here’s a chronological look at the end of Perry’s life, drawn from federal court documents, a medical examiner’s investigation and law enforcement reports.
Sometime in September of 2023 — Perry asks Iwamasa to help him get illegal ketamine. Working with his regular doctor, Perry had been receiving legal ketamine treatments for depression — an increasingly common off-label use of the surgical anesthetic. But he wanted more. Perry’s family members would later say they had known Iwamasa for decades, and trusted him to help keep the actor sober.
Sept. 30, 2023 — Told by a patient that he knew a prominent person willing to pay big money for ketamine, Dr. Salvador Plasencia meets with Perry and Iwamasa at their home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. Plasencia texts a doctor friend, Mark Chavez, who agrees to obtain ketamine for him. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texts Chavez. Later the same day, Plasencia returns to Perry’s house, where Iwamasa pays him $4,500 in cash for four vials. Plasencia gives Perry two injections, and teaches Iwamasa how to do it.
Oct. 2, 2023 — Iwamasa texts Plasencia seeking more ketamine, referring to it in code as “dr pepper.” Plasencia appears, gives Perry the injections, and leaves behind more vials.
Oct. 4. 2023 — Iwamasa injects Perry without help for the first time. He texts the doctor that he had found “the sweet spot” to put the needle into his boss, but that trying different spots on Perry had led to them running out of ketamine and says they need more. Plasencia texts Chavez asking if he can keep supplying the drug so they can become Perry’s “go-to.”
Oct. 8, 2023 — In a late night meetup at a Santa Monica shopping plaza, Plasencia sells Iwamasa four vials of ketamine for $6,000 in cash.
Oct. 10, 2023 — Iwamasa drives Perry to a public parking lot in Long Beach to meet with Plasencia. The doctor sells them more ketamine and gives an injection to Perry as he sits in a car. The same day, Perry asks a friend about other sources. She sends him to Erik Fleming, a licensed drug counselor she knows who has relapsed into addiction.
Oct. 11, 2023 — Fleming messages Iwamasa that he can get ketamine from a dealer he knows, Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors dub “The Ketamine Queen.” Fleming says she only deals “with high end and celebs.”
Oct. 12, 2023 — Plasencia goes to Perry’s house, where he is paid $21,000 in cash, some of it owed to him for previous ketamine buys. While there, he injects Perry. The actor immediately freezes up and his blood pressure spikes. The assistant said the doctor told him, “let’s not do that again.”
Oct. 13, 2023 — Perry gets a sample of Sangha’s ketamine and tries it. He and Iwamasa ask for 25 vials of it, for which they pay $5,500 to Sangha and another $500 to Fleming. Fleming drops it off at Perry’s house a day later.
Around Oct. 20, 2023 — Perry receives his last legal ketamine treatment from his regular physician.
Oct. 23, 2023 — Iwamasa pays $6,000 to Fleming and Sangha for 25 more vials of ketamine.
Oct. 24, 2023 — Iwamasa gives Perry six to eight injections, a daily dosage that would continue until the actor’s death.
Oct. 25, 2023 — Fleming makes a third and final delivery of another 25 vials of ketamine for another $6,000. This batch includes the fatal dose.
Oct. 27, 2023 — With the supply coming from Sangha, Perry and Iwamasa had been out of touch with Plasencia for about two weeks. Plasencia texts Iwamasa, saying he had more to offer: “I know you mentioned taking a break. I have been stocking up.”
Oct. 28, 2023, about 8:30 a.m. — Using syringes from Plasencia and ketamine from Sangha, Iwamasa gives Perry an injection.
About 11 a.m. — Perry plays pickleball.
About 12:45 p.m. — Iwamasa gives Perry his second shot of the day, and the actor begins watching a movie.
About 1:30 p.m. — Iwamasa gives Perry his third and final injection of the day while Perry sits in or near his backyard Jacuzzi. “Shoot me up with a big one,” Iwamasa remembers Perry telling him. Iwamasa leaves to run errands.
About 4 p.m. — Iwamasa returns home to find Perry face down in the Jacuzzi. Paramedics arrive minutes later and declare Perry dead. When Iwamasa talks to police, he does not mention Perry’s illegal ketamine consumption, or his role in it, and hides evidence of it. Sangha and Fleming learn of Perry’s death and delete their message history.
Dec. 15 — An autopsy report is released, saying the acute effects of ketamine were the primary cause of Perry’s death, with drowning as a secondary cause.
January 2024 — A search warrant is served at Perry and Iwamasa’s home. Over the course of several interviews, the assistant admits to his role in Perry's illegal drug use. He points investigators to Fleming and gives them information on Plasencia, whom they have already identified.
March 2024 — A search warrant is served on Fleming's sister's home, where he was staying. He gave up Sangha to prosecutors and became an essential witness along with Iwamasa.
Aug. 7, 2024 — Iwamasa pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. He will be sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
Aug. 8, 2024 — Fleming pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. He will be sentenced to two years in prison.
Oct. 2, 2024 — Chavez pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. He will get eight months of home detention.
July 23, 2025 — Plasencia pleads guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine. He will get 2 1/2 years in prison.
Sept. 3, 2025 — Sangha pleads guilty to three counts of distribution of ketamine, one count of using her home for a drug operation and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. She will get 15 years in prison.
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A version of this story first moved on Aug. 16, 2024.
