DEATH SCENES ALTERED, REPORT SAYS.

Byline: Michael Fleeman Associated Press 

Areas around the bathroom where movie producer Don Simpson died and the guest house where a friend died appeared to have been ``sanitized'' before investigators arrived, authorities said.

Simpson, who teamed up with Jerry Bruckheimer to produce such hits as ``Flashdance,'' ``Beverly Hills Cop'' and ``Top Gun,'' was found dead of a multiple drug overdose at his home just months after a doctor friend died of a drug overdose at Simpson's Bel-Air estate.

Coroner's reports obtained Friday by the Associated Press don't say who investigators suspect of cleaning up the areas surrounding the bodies of Ammerman, found Aug. 10, or Simpson, found Jan. 19. The report also was vague as to why police suspected the scenes had been altered.

Police declined immediate comment. Coroner's officials declined to elaborate on the documents.

The coroner's case report, dated Jan. 22 and attached to Simpson's autopsy report and Simpson's toxicology analysis, described the Ammerman scene, in fractured English: ``Investigators impression the scene had been sanitized.''

Referring to the scene after Simpson's death, the report states: ``At scene police suspect the same in this case.''

Simpson's private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, was at Simpson's house after Ammerman's body was found, but he denied any wrongdoing.

``I didn't sanitize anything. The police and the paramedics got there before I got there,'' Pellicano said.

Simpson's attorney, Robert Chapman, who was at Simpson's house in both cases, said he knew nothing about any sanitizing and warned: ``I wouldn't make those sorts of defamatory statements if I were you.''

Chapman said he arrived after police the morning Ammerman's body was found. The day Simpson was found dead, Chapman said he got to the house after paramedics, but before uniformed officers arrived.

Also at the house were Simpson's personal assistants, reports say. But it was unclear how many assistants were at the house and at what times.

Ammerman, a doctor and acquaintance who was staying at Simpson's home after undergoing a hair transplant, died of a drug overdose, his autopsy report shows. His toxicology report reveals he had a large amount of morphine in his system.

It would appear Ammerman, 44, died of an overdose of heroin, which metabolizes into morphine, according to coroner's sources who commented on condition of anonymity.

Simpson, 52, who had a bad heart, died as a result of taking cocaine and numerous prescription and over-the-counter medications, the autopsy report states.

The cocaine had already broken down into another chemical, suggesting he took it a day or so before he died, coroner's officials said.