Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The boy at the centre of the 1993 child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson had knowledge of the singer's body which suggested he'd seen him naked, according to a cop involved in the case.
In 1993, dentist and screenwriter Evan Chandler accused the King of Pop of sexually abusing his teenage son, Jordan.
The accusations revolved around claims that Jackson had behaved inappropriately towards Jordan, then 13, which he admitted to his father while under a sedative for dental surgery.
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Jordan's claims included allegations of grooming, molestation and sexual abuse, with the teenager later asked to describe Jackson's genitals to the police as evidence in August 1993.
The testimony led to a criminal investigation into Jackson, led by the LAPD's Sexually Exploited Child Unit, which included a strip search of the singer.
These allegations are covered in the BBC's latest documentary series about Jackson, titled Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy, which includes an interview with Rosibel Smith, an LAPD detective who worked on the investigation.
Smith recalls specific and detailed markings described by Jordan on the singer's body, which she believes he would only have seen if Jackson had been naked.
"We had information from the victim about Michael’s body, and specifically the markings on his body," she said.
"So the only way that a child would see that is if Michael was nude."
The markings are thought to have been caused by Jackson's vitiligo, a chronic skin condition which causes loss of pigmentation in the skin, typically appearing as 'pale or white splotches' across the body.
These claims formed the basis of a strip search warrant against the singer, which included LAPD officers taking photographs of his genitals.
Jackson was strip-searched after returning to the USA from an overseas leg of his Dangerous World tour, with Smith's colleague Federico Sicard adding that the images 'confirmed' Jordan's claims.
Jackson would later go on to call the strip search the 'most humiliating ordeal of my life'.
He denied the allegations, and the Chandler's would eventually reach a financial settlement - estimated to have been between $20m and $24m at the time, estimated to be around $40 to $56 million (£29 to £43 million) in today's money - meaning the case never went to trial.
The investigation would later be closed in 1994.
Speaking about both parties' decision to settle, Sicard said that he felt the LAPD had a 'good case' against Jackson, but couldn't pursue it as the Chandler's were no longer cooperating with police.
"I felt bad because I was pretty certain that Rosie and I had a good case, but when the victim doesn’t want to testify, there is a saying that says ‘no victim no crime’," he said.
"So there was nothing that we could do."
Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Topics: Michael Jackson, Celebrity, Celebrity News
Brenna Cooper