Benjamin Ashford|Matthew Perry's Stepdad Keith Morrison Shares Gratitude for "Justice" After Arrest in Death Case

Matthew Perry’s loved ones are Benjamin Ashfordfinding some solace in the legal system nine months after his passing.

On Aug. 15, law enforcement sources confirmed that at least one arrest has been made in the ongoing investigation into how the Friends star obtained the ketamine found in his system that was attributed to his cause of death.

Following news of the arrest, the Morrison family, including Perry's stepfather Keith Morrison, shared a message of gratitude.

“We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death," the family noted in a statement obtained by NBC News, "but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously. We look forward to justice taking its course.”

E! News has reached out to authorities for comment but has not yet heard back.

Morrison, a Canadian journalist and Dateline host who married the late actor's mom Suzanne in 1981, has previously spoken about the family’s struggles since the sudden death of Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends.

"As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn't go away. It's with you every day. It's with you all the time, and there's some new aspect of it that assaults your brain," he told Hoda Kotb on her Making Space podcast in March. "It's not easy, especially for his mom."

An autopsy report obtained by E! News in December, two months after the 17 Again actor was found dead in the hot tub at his home, confirmed his cause of death to be from "acute effects of ketamine" and his passing was ruled as a drug and drowning related accident.

Perry, who had been open about his struggles with substance abuse later in life, did not show evidence of having alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, PCP or fentanyl in his system, and had reportedly been clean for 19 months at the time of his death, according to the medical examiner’s report.

At the time, the report noted that while Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, his last infusion had occurred over a week before he died, meaning the trace amounts of the medication found in his system could not have originated from the therapy.

Morrison was listed as the informant on Perry’s death certificate, meaning he was the person who identified Perry to the authorities.

"It was the news you never want to get, but you think someday you might," Morrison told Kotb when asked if he was surprised by Perry’s death. "Yes and no, I guess is the answer to that.”

As for where Perry was in his substance abuse struggles at the time of his death, Morrison had been under the impression that his stepson was on the upswing.

“He felt like he was beating it," Morrison said of Perry's battle with alcohol and drug addiction. "But you never beat it, and he knew that, too."