Anna Nicole Smith's Death: Another Case of Hollywood's Murder Mystery?

The death of Anna Nicole Smith remains to be one of Hollywood’s much publicized unresolved mystery. In fact, Anna Nicole’s celebrated death had made her stature even more illustrious long after her body had already decomposed.

Vickie Lynn Marshall (nee Hogan), more famously known by the stage name Anne Nicole Smith, was born in Harris County, Texas on November 28, 1967. Anna Nicole Smith was a well known model, sex symbol, actress, and television personality. Her first rise to stardom was when she became a model of Playboy Magazine where she was heralded as the Playmate of the Year in 1993. Because of her popularity as a Playmate, she was later on commissioned to model for well-known clothing companies such as Guess Jeans and Lane Bryant. Later on, she expanded her media exposure when she starred in her own reality television show, The Anna Nicole Show.

On February 8, 2007, Anna Nicole’s Hollywood career ended when she died allegedly of overdose of prescription drugs at the age of 39. Her death came a few months after controversial press coverage over the death of her son Daniel Smith. Anna Nicole Smith also had a custody and paternity conflict on her daughter Dannielyn.

Here are the facts and circumstances that surrounded Anna Nicole Smith’s death :

• On February 5,2007, Monday, she checked in at Seminole Hard Rock & Casino with her lawyer and boyfriend, Howard Stern. It was in the same hotel that she was found unconscious on the floor.

• It was Anne Nicole Smith’s private nurse who called front desk for help at 1 :38 pm of February 8. It was the front desk of the hotel who called 911. A phone call received by 911 was later released to the public on February 13 to support this fact. The phone call involved the Seminole Police and 911 operators, and the exact content of the conversation was :

We need assistance to Room 609 at the Hard Rock. It's in reference to a white female. She's not breathing and not responsive...actually, it's Anna Nicole Smith

• Even before rescue workers arrived, Anna Nicole’s bodyguard administered CPR on her at 1 :45 pm. Later on, she was brought to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood at 2 :10 pm where she was declared dead on arrival at 2 :49 pm.

• The investigation over the death of Anna Nicole Smith was led by Broward County Medical Examiner and Forensic Pathologist Dr. Joshua Pepper together with the Seminole Police and other independent forensic pathologists and toxicologists. Based on their examination, Anna Nicole Smith died of combined drug intoxication with chloral hydrate. This sedative became lethal because of the combination of 4 other prescription drugs that were found in her system. These were Klonopin, Ativan, Serax, and Valium. They also found out that along with these drugs, Smith has also taken Benadryl and Topamax. According to the experts, these tablets most likely increased the sedative effect of the chloral hydrate, thus making it lethal. Despite this report however, it was declared that no illegal drugs were found in Anna Nicole Smith’s system. The cause of her death was not through homicide, suicide, or natural causes. Also, according to Anna Nicole’s attorney, Ron Rale, she had been suffering from flu like symptoms. She had a 105-degree fever, pungent sweating and an infection on her buttocks. These were caused by repeated injections a couple of days prior to her death. This was to substantiate the various drugs and medicines that were found in Anna Nicole Smith’s system during the autopsy.

The official autopsy report was released on March 26, 2007 and may even be

accessed online.

However, 2 years after, Anna Nicole Smith’s death remain to be another unsolved Hollywood murder mystery. On March 25, 2009, more than 2 years after her death, it was reported that prosecutors in Florida were taking a new look at the case after Howard K. Stern, Smith’s boyfriend and lawyer, and two other doctors were charged with conspiring to furnish drugs to Anna Nicole Smith prior to her fatal overdose. The charge was made in California in March of 2009. To date, authorities have yet to prove whether Anna Nicole Smith was a case of just a simple drug overdose or a conspiracy to murder.

Through all these facts and circumstances, one thing remains true. Hollywood has never been short of unsolved cases of death shrouded with murder mystery. Anna Nicole Smith’s death is just one of the long list of death cases whose mysteries have yet to be resolved. It may take years before the truth comes out, making celebrities like Anna Nicole Smith hold a celebrated stature long after being dead.