Anna Nicole Smith

[Q Steph]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- A drug overdose killed former reality TV star and Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said Monday.

Tiger said there was no evidence of foul play and the overdose was accidental.

The medical examiner's office had said on March 7 that the cause of Smith's death had been determined, but it would not be announced for one to two weeks to give police time to finish the investigation.

Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper wanted to make sure none of the investigators' findings change any of his own findings, his office said then.

Tiger said Monday the case was now closed.

Smith, 39, was pronounced dead February 8 after being found unconscious in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood, Florida.

A preliminary autopsy in February indicated that Smith did not appear to be a victim of foul play.

Smith was buried March 2 in the Bahamas after a court battle over who would have custody of her body and where she would be buried. She was buried next to her son, Daniel, 20, who died in September of what one pathologist said was a lethal combination of methadone and antidepressants.

Since her death, controversy has swirled over the identity of the father of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, and two other men have claimed paternity.

In 1994, Smith married 89-year-old Texas oil magnate Howard Marshall II. He died the next year, and until her death, Smith was involved in a legal battle over the inheritance that included a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

[Q Steph]

After performing an autopsy, it became clear, Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental overdose of medication.

Dr. Joshua Perper, the Medical Examiner for Broward County, just announced the 39-year-old former Playboy playmate was taking a number of drugs, including methadone, anti-anxiety drugs and others.

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Anna Nicole Smith injected a drug into her left buttock days before her death. Dr. Joshua Perper announced when Anna Nicole flew to Miami before she died, she was complaining of pain in her left cheek.

She developed chills as she went to the Hard Rock and developed a fever of 105 degrees. She refused to go to the hospital.

Story developing...

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Dr. Perper says Anna's temperature went down after the first tough night at the Hard Rock, but she exhibited vomiting and as the week wore on her condition deteriorated. On the last day of her life, Thursday, February 8, Dr. Perper says Howard K. Stern woke up at 10 AM and found Anna awake. Stern helped her to the bathroom and then she went back to bed and went to sleep.

Dr. Perper says Stern left the room and didn't return until after 911 was called.

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Dr. Perper says when his team went back and examined Anna Nicole, he found multiple injections in the left buttock and it appeared a needle perforated something under the skin that caused an infection. The needle perforated an abscess and caused the infection that led to a high fever.

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Anna did not take methadone the day she died, but there was evidence she had taken it several days earlier.

Dr. Perper concluded was combined drug intoxication, including anxiety and depression medication, valium, ativan and antihistamine. She also had chlorohydrate, which was the major component in her death.

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None of the drugs in Anna's system were enough to kill her by themselves. It was a lethal combo.

The infected abcess in her buttock contributed.

Dr. Perper says the death was accidental. It was not a suicide.

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Anna was recovering from her depression at the time of her death. She had not made statements about suicide in the weeks prior to her death.

Dr. Perper says Anna did not try to commit suicide when she fell in a pool shortly after Daniel died. It was an accident caused by too many drugs.

Dr. Perper says Anna's computer was helpful in determining her state of mind. There was no suicide note.

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"We did not find any evidence that would point to homicide," according to Dr. Joshua Perper. He said "We did not find any fact...which could raise credible suspicion of homicide."

There was no evidence to suggest forced-feeding of one of the drugs Anna ingested.

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Some of the drugs Anna had taken were prescribed to her, some under an alias and some prescribed to other people but intended for her. TMZ first reported that a Beverly Hills doctor sent prescriptions to Anna's Bahamas address but they were prescribed for an unknown person.

Dr. Perper says the injection that caused the buttock infection did not in and of itself cause her death. It is unclear who administered that injection that broke the abcess open, but it did was not the lynchpin of her death.

TMZ.com

[KMan101]

Wow. I had a feeling it might of been an accidental overdose, but wow. I had no idea she was on that many drugs. So sad. And had she gone to the hospital ... sigh. A tragic end to a tragic life.

SO sad.

[Q Steph]

This is the latest, but Poor Anna. She died the same way Daniel did. I still think Howard gave her osme of the drugs.

The National Enquirer was right. It's kind of disgusting to know that tabloids can breach confidentiality for the right price.

According to Dr. Joshua Perper:

- ANS died as a result of accidental overdose

- No evidence of disease

- At the time of death, she was on methadone, anti-depressants, growth hormones, and weight loss pills

- She injected growth hormones (for weight loss), either ammuno-globulin or another longevity drug into her ass cheek before she came to the States

- She complained about the injection site on the flight to Fort Lauderdale, and in the limo from the airport, she had chills and was cold. When she arrived at the hotel she was spiking a fever. She was asked by HKS and others to go to the hospital and she firmly refused, according to all witness statements.

- At that time her shrink friend prescribed flu drugs, put her in an ice bath, and was gave her chlora hydrate

- She could not eat, only could have fluids. But by Wednesday, she was doing better.

- On Thursday, the day she died, ANS was awake, talked to HKS, he helped her to the bathroom, she was coherent but weak, then she came back and went to bed. That was the last he saw of her.

- ME confirmed there was no delay in talking her to the hospital, and she was not dead when paramedics arrived

- No abscess visible on the buttocks, but when sliced open, they found major scarring, abscesses and hemoraging from it. The high fever was due to the perforation of the abscess and the leaking of blood but there was no blood poisoning.

- 9 prescriptions drugs found in her blood stream (ativan, valium, benadryl, etc) but all were at therapeutic levels.

- High doses of chlora hydrate were found (metabolites) in her system (these pills are broken down very fast, and this is why they weren't found in the initial autopsy) and the official cause of death is:

Combined drug intoxication. The reaction of the sleeping pills plus the levels of all the therapeutic drugs in her system, is what killed her. Add on a raging flu and a slight infection from the abscess and thus we have Anna Nicole, dead of an accidental overdose.

- Homicide and suicide were considered and nothing points to that. The levels of the drugs were not high enough for an overdose, accidental or otherwise. Was a fluke that the pills she had reacted badly with the sleeping pills she was newly on. No suggested force feeding, and no way to "slip her" the sleeping pills due to the horrid taste.

According to Chief of Seminole police Charlie Tiger:

- No evidence of illegal drugs

- No foul play

- Nothing unusual on security camera tapes from hotel

- Nothing on HKS's or ANS's laptop, but these were the new evidence delaying the autopsy

- Accidental overdose according to Charlie Tiger

- No criminal charges to be laid at this point

http://www.nbc6.net/video/11022074/index.html

www.tmz.com

It is unclear if Anna took the fatal drug cocktail that killed her on her own or if someone gave it to her.

In all, she was taking nine drugs, including valium, ativan, antihystimine and cloarl hydrate. She was also taking muscle relaxers. But Dr. Perper says it was impossible to know if she took some or all of the drugs without assistance.

[bellcurve]

Nancy Grace could have been speculating(as usual), but wasn't she given some of these drugs by way of a buttocks injection?! I still suspect foul play.

Larry needs to get the baby far far away from Howard!

[kelli_blue]

By how she acted in the media (remember that award show where she seemed totally bombed?), I figured she was on something,

but didn't realize just HOW much. So sad, her daughter will never know her mommy.

Not sure what I really think of Howard K Stern....if he was protecting Anna, or just helping her demons/addictions.