Pop King Michael Jackson will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale on Aug. 29 on what would have been his 51st birthday, the family announced early Tuesday.
The 10 a.m. local time ceremony will be held at Holly Terrace in the Grand Mausoleum at the cemetery and will be attended only by family and close friends, the family said in a statement released by its communications consultant.
"The Jackson family once again wishes to express its gratitude to Michael's fans around the world for their support during these difficult times," the statement said.
Jackson died at a rented mansion in Holmby Hills on June 25 as he prepared for a concert engagement in London.
Joe Jackson, his estranged father, disclosed in an interview with New York Daily News which was published on Monday that his son would be buried in Forest Lawn on his 51st birthday, but this was not confirmed by other members of his family until Tuesday.
At the request of investigators, who are working to build a criminal case, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office has not yet announced the cause of death, although it is widely believed to have been caused by a medication overdose, possibly the powerful sedative propofol.
The probe has focused on Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, the only person to have been publicly identified as a manslaughter suspect. But other physicians who had a relationship with the pop icon are also being investigated.
Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times last week that on the morning the pop singer died, Murray left the performer alone and under the influence of propofol to make telephone calls. But the time he returned, Jackson had stopped breathing.
Jackson was taking propofol, which is supposed to be administered by an anesthesiologist in a hospital setting, as treatment for insomnia.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2009)
