Music icon and former Santa Barbara County resident Michael Jackson died Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to media reports.
Jackson, 50, was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his BelAir home shortly before 12:30 p.m. Paramedics performed CPR, then took him to UCLA Medical Center, where he was in a deep coma and later pronounced dead.
The King of Pop rose to fame alongside his brothers as the lead singer of the Jackson Five in the late 1960s.
His 2,800-acre Neverland Valley Ranch near Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley served as Jackson’s home and a private amusement park when it opened in 1988.
According to the Business Times, Jackson defaulted on a $24.5 million loan backed by the ranch last year. Los Angeles-based Colony Capital bought the loan for $23 million and put it into a joint venture with Jackson.
On Thursday, the co-owner said it wouldn’t comment on the future of the property.
“I can’t imagine we’re going to discuss that at this point,” Colony Capital spokesman Owen Blicksilver told the Business Times. “Right now, our thoughts are with him and his family.”
On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of 10 felony charges including molestation and conspiracy in a case that stemmed from allegations he molested a teen boy.
Jackson had been charged with giving alcohol to the teen and molesting him four times in February and March in his bedroom at Neverland.
The not-guilty verdicts brought to an end a four-month sensational trial that attracted fans, reporters and photographers from around the world to the Santa Maria court complex.
— Noozhawk staff writer Michelle Nelson can be reached at mnelson@noozhawk.com, and staff writer Laurie Jervis can be reached at ljervis@noozhawk.com
