On August 27, 1994, Neverland Valley Ranch was supposed to be filled with nothing but celebration.
Michael Jackson had opened his private estate for the wedding of his close friend Miko Brando and Karen Hamilton.
Miko, the son of actor Marlon Brando, had become part of Michael’s trusted circle and worked with him for years.
For the wedding, Michael reportedly took on one of the most important roles of all.
He was Miko’s best man.
The celebration was private enough that even some details surrounding Michael’s appearance were kept secret. Shortly afterward, the Los Angeles Times reported on the wedding attire created for Miko and his attendants while noting that the designer would not reveal what Michael wore.
But sometime during that day, the mood changed completely.
Michael received devastating news involving his own family.
His former sister-in-law Delores “Dee Dee” Jackson, the ex-wife of his brother Tito Jackson and mother of Taj, Taryll and TJ Jackson, had died that morning.
She was only 39 years old.
Miko Brando and Karen Hamilton’s Neverland Wedding
Early reports said Dee Dee had drowned in the swimming pool at the Ladera Heights home of her boyfriend, Donald Bohana.
According to the account Bohana gave authorities at the time, the two had been in the pool during the early morning hours. He said he later discovered Dee Dee at the bottom of the deep end, pulled her out and called emergency services.
She was taken to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Jackson family timelines recount that after Michael learned what had happened, he left the Neverland wedding, while members of the Jackson family gathered to support Tito and his three sons.
At first, authorities described Dee Dee’s death as an apparent accidental drowning.
But the case would eventually become far more disturbing.
Months later, the Los Angeles County coroner reported injuries that supported the possibility of an “assisted drowning.” The death was investigated further, and Bohana was eventually arrested and prosecuted.
In 1998, Bohana was convicted of second-degree murder in Dee Dee’s death and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. He maintained that her death had been an accident, while prosecutors argued that she had been assaulted before drowning.
For Michael, however, all of that came later.
On August 27, 1994, he only knew that a joyful day at Neverland had suddenly been interrupted by terrible news from his family.
One moment he was standing beside a close friend on one of the happiest days of his life.
The next, Michael was leaving the celebration after learning that the mother of his three nephews was gone.
It became one of those strange days in Michael Jackson’s life when two completely opposite emotions existed only hours apart.
Neverland began the day hosting a wedding.
By the end of it, Michael Jackson’s attention had shifted entirely toward a grieving family.