Robert Pastorelli was best known as the comical painter on Murphy Brown, but his own life story is playing out more like a Cold Case storyline.
Pastorelli, found dead last year of what was ruled an accidental heroin overdose, was reportedly under investigation for the 1999 death of his girlfriend at the time of his demise.
The actor's live-in companion, Charemon Jonovich, was killed by a gunshot in what officials originally believed was a suicide. But, according to Inside Edition, police investigating the incident, acting on new evidence that implicated Pastorelli, changed the cause of death to murder in 2004.
David Campbell, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Coroner, confirmed to E! Online Monday that Jonovich's official file was modified after questions arose as to who may have pulled the trigger on Mar. 15, 1999 at approximately 10:01 p.m. However, he said her file was officially closed on July 14, four months after Pastorelli's fatal OD.
Campbell was unable to comment on why the cause of death was changed from suicide to murder.
But Inside Edition, in a report set to air Tuesday, says the New Jersey-born Pastorelli knew he had been fingered by police as the primary suspect in Jonovich's death. The syndicated TV show says the actor was on the verge of being charged for murder before he took his final heroin hit on Mar. 8, 2004. He was 49.
He told cops in 1999 that he and Jonovich, 25, were arguing when she pointed the gun at herself not knowing it was loaded. At the time, friends said the incident devastated Pastorelli, who was so shaken he put his career on hold and spent the better part of a year in seclusion, interacting only with his young daughter by Jonovich.
In the intervening years, detectives apparently obtained evidence discrediting Pastorelli's story and were ready to arrest the actor. The Los Angeles Police Department did not comment Monday on the Inside Edition report.
Pastorelli, who'd been playing TV tough guys with regularity since the early 1980s before finding breakout fame as Eldin Bernecky on CBS' Murphy Brown, only worked sporadically once he resumed acting.
But he appeared set for a comeback with a role in Be Cool, a sequel to the John Travolta mob comedy Get Shorty.
The MGM film, which turned out to be his final performance, is due in theaters Mar. 4.