Casey Kasem Missing

**American Patriot** · May 13th, 2014, 13:59

Casey Kasem might be on 'Indian reservation'

Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY 9:36 a.m. EDT May 13, 2014

The big question: Where is Casey Kasem?

His daughter, Kerri Kasem, thinks he may have "fled the country" or possibly be on "an Indian Reservation."

A judge on Monday ordered an investigation into the whereabouts of famed radio countdown host, 82. An attorney for Kasem's wife, Jean, told the court that Casey Kasem, who became famous for his weekly American Top 40 radio show and as the voice of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo cartoon, had been removed from Los Angeles without his children's knowledge. He has advanced Parkinson's and can no longer speak.

Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy ordered a court investigator and adult protective services to find out where Kasem is being treated, reported AP. Kasem has been in various medical facilities chosen by his wife. Jean Kasem and Kasem's kids have long been battling over their father.

CNN reports that also on Monday, Kasem's daughter, Kerri Kasem, was named as temporary conservator of her dad.

The conservatorship is in effect until June 20, when a hearing is scheduled on whether to make the conservatorship permanent, according to the Los Angeles County Superior Court spokeswoman Patricia Kelly.

"Justice was finally served! I just won temporary conservatorship over my father's healthcare. We have been vindicated by the court. Thank you for your prayers, well wishes and support through this entire ordeal," Kasem's daughter, Kerri Kasem, posted on her Facebook page soon after the order.

Later, she added: "I believe my father's wife fled the country (or possibly went to an Indian Reservation) with my Dad because she knew I would win in court today. The judge ordered, Adult Protective Services, the PVP Attorney and the police to look for him. Please pray that he is safe."

**American Patriot** · May 13th, 2014, 14:00

Call out Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine!

**Malsua** · May 13th, 2014, 16:15

Hi, I'm Casey Kasem and on tonight's. Cut. See, when you come out of those up-tempo goddamn numbers, man, it’s impossible to make those transitions, and then you gotta go into somebody dying. You know, they do this to me all the time. I don’t know what the hell they do it for, but God damn it if we can’t come out of a slow record. I don’t understand it. Is Don on the phone? Okay. I want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn’t a fucking up-tempo record every time I do a goddamn death dedication! Now make it—and I also wanna know what happened to the pictures I was supposed to see this week! This is the god—last goddamn time. I want somebody to use his fucking brain to not come out of a goddamn record that is—that’s up-tempo and I gotta talk about a fucking dog dying!”

**American Patriot** · May 13th, 2014, 16:24

/chuckles

I take it you're either channeling Casey "at his best" or you just are channeling Casey doing Alzheimer's? lol

**Malsua** · May 13th, 2014, 16:38

That's actually a transcript from a recording Casey did one day when he appeared to be very annoyed. It sounds funnier when you listen to how pissed off he is, but I know you can't get media from your location so I posted the transcript.

**American Patriot** · May 13th, 2014, 16:40

I thought I remembered that. lol

**American Patriot** · May 15th, 2014, 13:00

Casey Kasem found in Washington State

5 hours ago
by Allison Oskin
Executive Producer
Comments (0)
- Share Update

By Rachel Wells and Holly Yan
(CNN) — Radio icon Casey Kasem has been found in Washington state, a representative for his daughter told CNN late Wednesday night.

“The family has grave concerns about his medical care. The Kasem family will do everything in their power to bring their father home,” representative Danny Deraney said in a statement.

But the statement said Kasem’s exact location in Washington “is still being determined.”

Kasem, 82, is suffering from Lewy body disease — a common cause of dementia, a spokesman for his daughter told CNN on Tuesday.

On Monday, a judge named Kasem’s daughter, Kerri, the temporary conservator until a June 20 hearing.

But she hadn’t been able to take on the responsibility without knowing where he was.

Kerri and her sister Julie Kasem told CNN they last visited their father a week ago in the nursing home where he was staying.

When the daughters’ attorney, Troy Martin, called the day after the visit to check up on Kasem, he was told by the nursing home that he had been removed overnight, Martin told CNN.

Julie Kasem and her husband, Dr. Jamil Aboulhosn, filed an earlier conservatorship petition claiming the retired radio host “has been isolated from his daughters, friends and other family” by his wife, Jean Kasem.

“We tried everything to get her to let us see him when she stopped bringing him over to the house,” Kerri Kasem told CNN in December. “She had an assistant bring him over to the house so we could see him every weekend. She stopped. My sister went there, knocked on the door, and she was escorted off the property.”

But the wife gave a very different take on the ordeal last November.

“These children single-handedly and irreparably shattered the lives of their father, his wife and youngest daughter, the calm of their home and their neighborhood by engaging in uncalled for public demonstrations and personal attacks in the media,” she said in court papers, according to CNN affiliate KCBS.

“They are doing so with a professionally orchestrated media and legal campaign that has disgraced their father and vilified their stepmother.”

Last year, a judge ruled that Kasem was being well cared for by his wife. The judge denied a request by Kasem’s children that a temporary conservator be appointed.
Attempts to contact Jean Kasem’s attorney earlier this week were unsuccessful.

Jean Kasem, 60 this year, was an actress with roles in “Ghostbusters” and “Cheers.”

Casey Kasem, who for decades hosted radio music countdown shows “American Top 40″ and “Casey’s Top 40,” retired in 2009.

Besides the famed countdown shows, Kasem was also the voice of Shaggy in the cartoon “Scooby-Doo” and an announcer for NBC. He was a popular DJ and occasional actor before “American Top 40″ began in 1970.

His case has drawn attention to Lewy body dementia — the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The condition can be hard to diagnose because Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s cause similar symptoms, according to the National Institutes of Health.

**American Patriot** · June 17th, 2014, 19:44

Mr. Kasem has decided to stop all the horseshit of his family and their attempts to keep him hostage any longer.

I listened to him all my life, as a child, in the military and not all that long ago before he retired/quit.

Rest in Peace Casey Kasem.

Legendary radio personality Casey Kasem dies at 82

By Todd Leopold, CNN
updated 10:42 AM EDT, Tue June 17, 2014

Your video will begin momentarily.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Casey Kasem had a progressive dementia, had been hospitalized for weeks
He began "American Top 40" in 1970, was known for his friendly baritone voice
He was born Kemal Amin Kasem and became a DJ while in the Army
'We are heartbroken," Kasem's daughter says in announcing his death Sunday

Legendary radio personality Casey Kasem has passed away. Share your tributes, memories and stories with CNN iReport.

(CNN) -- Casey Kasem, who entertained radio listeners for almost four decades as the host of countdown shows such as "American Top 40" and "Casey's Top 40," died early Sunday, according to a Facebook post from his daughter Kerri Kasem.

The news was confirmed by Casey's Kasem's agent, Don Pitts.

Casey Kasem was 82 and had been hospitalized in Washington state for two weeks.

"Early this Father's Day morning, our dad Casey Kasem passed away surrounded by family and friends," Kasem's children -- Kerri, Mike and Julie -- wrote in a statement released by Kasem's representative, Danny Deraney.

Photos: Legendary DJ Casey Kasem

Casey Kasem's son speaks out

"Even though we know he is in a better place and no longer suffering, we are heartbroken ... The world will miss Casey Kasem, an incredible talent and humanitarian; we will miss our Dad."

Kasem's longtime friend, Gonzalo Venecia, and his younger brother, Mouner Kasem, were also with him when he died at St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington, at 3:25 a.m. Sunday, a family member said.

Casey Kasem had been suffering from Lewy body disease, the most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's.

He had recently been the subject of a bitter court battle involving three of his children by a previous marriage and his wife, Jean.

His oldest children, who challenged their stepmother for control of Kasem's medical decisions in his last months, are not fighting his wife for possession of his remains, a family member told CNN Sunday.

Daughter Julie Kasem will host a memorial celebration at her Northridge, California, home on Saturday, June 21, the family member said. No other funeral arrangements were yet known.

No autopsy is expected since Kasem died under a doctor's care in a hospital. The immediate cause of death was from sepsis caused by an ulcerated bedsore, the family member said.

Casey Kasem's family feud
In May, a California judge awarded Kerri Kasem temporary power of attorney after Jean Kasem took her husband out of a nursing home and moved him to Washington amid family feuding.

A Washington judge later allowed Kerri to visit her father in that state.

Casey Kasem was hospitalized after an argument between Jean and Kerri in which his wife threw meat at her stepdaughter.

Last week, a Los Angeles County judge gave daughter Kerri Kasem the authority to have doctors end his infusions of water, food and medicine.

Kasem was already a popular disc jockey in Los Angeles when he became the host of "American Top 40" in 1970. The syndicated show, which counted down the 40 most popular songs in the United States based on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 music chart, began on just seven radio stations but quickly became a mainstay of thousands, all around the world.

"When we first went on the air, I thought we would be around for at least 20 years. I knew the formula worked. I knew people tuned in to find out what the No. 1 record was," he told Variety in 1989.

Kasem's first No. 1, concluding the "AT40" premiere show of July 4, 1970, was Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)." His last on successor show "American Top 20," almost exactly 39 years later, was "Second Chance" by Shinedown.

But the show wasn't just about finding out who was No. 1.

Its features, included biographical details on performs, flashbacks, album cuts and Kasem's "long-distance dedication" for listeners who wrote to dedicate songs to friends and loved ones far away.

Kasem, whose baritone was always friendly and upbeat, delivered these in his most sympathetic voice, warm enough to melt butter. "Dear Casey," he began, and would read an emotional letter from a listener who wanted to connect with an old flame, express regret to a new love or send wishes to a far-flung family member.

The first one, for example, was from a male listener who wanted to dedicate Neil Diamond's "Desiree" to a sweetheart named Desiree who was moving to Germany.

The show, originally three hours, expanded to four in the late '70s.

Tributes: 'Keep reaching for the stars'
In many ways, even as Top 40 radio moved from the AM to the FM dial and took on the name "Contemporary Hit Radio," "American Top 40" remained a throwback to the way the format was in the 1960s, with frequent number jingles ("Number 29!") and a fast-moving mix, though Kasem, in temperament, practically defined the laid-back hosts of the Me Decade. (The exception to the laid-back rule was a much-copied outtake, now readily available on the Internet, of Kasem exploding in anger over a long-distance dedication that succeeded an up-tempo record.)

The show inspired several imitators, including a television version, "America's Top 10," hosted by Kasem himself.

Kasem left "American Top 40" in 1988 over a contract dispute with ABC Radio Networks and signed with competitor Westwood One, for whom he started a show called "Casey's Top 40" in 1989. The new show used a different publication's chart, but it was the same old Casey: smooth, cheerful, full of information.

"The magic of Casey is that he is the ultimate professional in whatever he does. ... He enlightens, he explores, he suggests, he provokes and he informs," fellow DJ Gary Owens told Billboard in 1997.

Kasem acquired the name "American Top 40" and in 1998 resumed hosting the program with a new syndicator. (The ABC show, with Shadoe Stevens replacing Kasem, had been canceled in 1995.) He handed off to Ryan Seacrest in 2004, though he continued with two other shows, "American Top 20" and "American Top 10," until signing off in 2009 -- as always with his trademark line, "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."

Kemal Amin Kasem was born in Detroit in 1932. He first tried radio while in high school but found he had a talent for it while serving in Korea with the Army. He was a DJ on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Kasem's global reach: Long-distance dedications
After stops in several cities, including Flint, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; and San Francisco, he joined KRLA in Los Angeles in 1963, partly in hopes of an acting career. He did earn roles in a number of low-budget movies -- the most famous of which was probably "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant" (1971) -- but his voice was always his ticket to fame, whether appearing on a Dick Clark-produced TV show, "Shebang," or voicing the character of Shaggy on the cartoon "Scooby-Doo," which premiered in 1969. (He also was the voice of Robin on "Super Friends.")

That voice became ubiquitous. He was NBC's promotional announcer in the late '70s and early '80s, and heard on dozens of commercials.

But "American Top 40" remains his legacy.

"Kasem started the show in 1970, a curious time to start a show about Top 40 mainstream pop, because the format had just been pronounced dead and progressive album-oriented radio was on the rise," wrote Susan Orlean in a 1990 New York Times Magazine profile. "He infused the show with corny reverence for conventional American values exactly when cynicism had become the more fashionable posture."

Kasem attributed his success to that everyday voice.

"It's not a clear-toned announcer's voice," he told the Times. "It's more like the voice of the guy next door.''

Kasem is survived by his second wife, Jean, whom he married in 1985; and four children.