PHOTO. A Brittany Murphy autopsy photo? The hunt for Brittany Murphy autopsy photo follows one for Brittany Murphy’s death photo. Brittany Murphy’s autopsy photo dominates net celebrity activity Wednesday online. On Tuesday it was the same for Murphy’s death photo.

Why the obsession with an autopsy photo, never released in the U.S. and if leaked would represent a major breach?

A leak could be driving the demand.

Amid Murphy’s death, reports indicate leaked information to an online news site about Murphy’s coroner report is under investigation. At issue is the Los Angeles coroner’s field notes at Murphy’s home seen by the website even though those notes are reportedly behind city password protected clearance.

Brittany Murphy’s death photo hunt online was broke first by LALATE Tuesday before sunrise, a hunt that repeats the trends of two other celebrities who died in 2009 - David Carradine and Michael Jackson.

LALATE wrote the following about the Michael Jackson the OK! Magazine cover at the time:

“The person who made the decision on this reportedly is Richard Desmond, owner of the magazine, who paid a reported $500,000 for the photo. Smart of not? The photo is everywhere today online, the photo doesn’t show really anything, and it’s out of focus.”

“In a week in which People, Time, Newsweek all issued stunning, beautiful covers that remember Michael Jackson at his career height, all commemorative editions, glowing glossy covers, along comes OK! Magazine that plasters a Michael Jackson possibly already dead.”

Michael Jackson’s death photo was in fact not even that at all. Jackson was reportedly alive at the time the picture being rushed to UCLA Medical.

The Jackson death photo would spark both massive criticism and massive coverage in other press upon its publication. And if such a picture exists for Murphy, with no confirmation Tuesday that it does, the same outrage and fascination is expected.

But the nation’s obsession with celebrity death photos started most prevalent in 2009 with the passing of David Carradine at age 72. In the case of Carradine, he was dead in the picture. Moreover, there were a series of photos, not just one, reportedly stolen from police files.

Keith Carradine’s attorney Mark Geragos would state at the time “The family is outraged about the release of these [death] photos.” The photos would be never publish on U.S. soil but would appear across countless U.S. based blogs. David Carradine died at age 72 this summer in his Bangkok hotel room. Soon thereafter, news that leaked forensics photos had gotten in the hands of Thai Rath, a Thailand tabloid newspaper.