Anna Nicole Died of Drug Overdose
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DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental drug overdose after she was found unresponsive at a hotel, authorities said Monday.
“We found nothing to indicate any foul play,” said Chief Charlie Tiger of the Seminole police department.
Neither Chief Tiger nor Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper immediately said what drug or drugs were involved in her death. Perper said the detailed autopsy showed no evidence of disease.
Smith, 39, had been found unresponsive Feb. 8 in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
The weeks after her death that day were filled with public courtroom drama and private whispers about what might have killed her. Officials delayed releasing the autopsy results because of additional evidence, not publicly released.
Mr. Perper’s initial examination had revealed no serious injuries to her body. Mr. Perper said then that prescription drugs, but no illegal drugs, were found in Smith’s hotel room, though he wouldn’t identify them.
Smith had arrived at the Hard Rock on Feb. 5 and planned to leave four days later aboard a new yacht that her companion Howard K. Stern was arranging to buy. She was seldom seen outside her room during her stay: She was said to be suffering from a stomach flu before she died.
Because her death was so sudden, and because her 20-year-old son Daniel died under suspicious circumstances five months earlier, there has been speculation about possible criminal activity surrounding the deaths. The Seminole Police Department investigated the case because the casino is on tribal land.
An inquest into Daniel’s death is scheduled to start Tuesday in the Bahamas, where he died.
Smith grew up in Texas and went from topless dancer to Playboy Playmate of the Year, Guess jeans model and bride of 89-year-old oilman J. Howard Marshall II. She took her fight for Marshall’s estimated $500 million fortune as far as the Supreme Court, and the ongoing battle could make her infant daughter, Dannielynn, very wealthy. Mr. Stern and two other men have claimed to be the baby’s father.
