She’s Hot. She’s Sexy. She’s Dead. Four may lay claim to billion-dollar baby as bizarre cast of characters gets louder and larger
By Jeffrey Jolson

Fourth would-be father may join Smith baby derby
Stern, Von Anhalt, Birkhead and playa to be named later.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 02/10/2007 – Never in all her flamboyant life did Anna Nicole Smith make as big a spectacle as in death.
In the big tent, a fourth would-be father may join the potentially lucrative baby derby and doctors had inconclusive results that did not rule out overdose or drug-induced foul play in Smith’s death.
Surreal sideshows included a blocked play for Smith’s DNA, an international hunt for baby Dannielynn, an outspoken lawyer without a client, a supposed recent suicide attempt by Smith, and a police chief who refuses to say whose name appears on the prescription bottles found in Smith’s room. Other acts in the show include a Eurotrash Prince making dubious fatherhood claims, and accusations from Smith’s mother that Smith companion Howard K. Stern played a part in the deaths of her and son Daniel last September.
Forty news crews jostled for space at the Florida autopsy result press conference and a dozen satellite-dish trucks beamed the news worldwide. Others crowded courtroom steps in Los Angeles and combed beaches in the Bahamas.
While everything remains highly speculative as the impassioned players are dancing for cameras and custody as fast as they can, events have become so bizarre a daily scorecard seems in order:

Broward County medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper conducted Smith’s six-hour autopsy and issued an inconclusive report awaiting toxicology results, He said it would help dispel rumours, but instead left the field as wide open as a rainy-day horse race for speculation. For instance, he said no pills were found in the stomach, which might be expected in an overdose.
“The absence of pills of capsules in no way exclude the possibility of this being a drug-induced death,” said Dr. Perpers’ former boss, famed forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht. The doctor said, “In the majority of overdose cases I don’t find pills or capsules in the stomach. The drugs dissolve quickly and the effects so that might cause death do not take place for some time.”
There is also the possibility that methadone, a synthetic narcotic often prescribed in liquid form, played a part in an overdose, as it did with Daniel. The man who claims to be the true father of Dannielynn (pronounced Danny-Lynn), Larry Birkhead, claimed in court papers a month ago that Smith was taking methadone, even during pregnancy with her daughter.
“We have to wait for (Anna Nicole’s) toxicology report to see if “whether the same was in play here,” said Dr. Wecht, who was hired by Smith to do the examination of her son’s death and is scheduled to report at a hearing in the case on Feb. 26.
One thing seems certain. Smith was a tragic figure surrounded by a peculiar cast of characters who are all making their move at the same moment.
Birkhead and his attorney Debra Opri accused Stern of blocking a DNA test of the baby by hiding her in the Bahamas, where its sovereign status make U.S. court orders difficult to enforce. “Stern and his representative both told us ‘You’ll never get custody. You’ll never get the (baby’s) DNA.’” She added “Larry will not rest until that baby is no longer in the hands of Howard Stern.”
Stern also received several vows that he would never be allowed to keep the baby, though his attorney said “Howard has custody. His name is on the birth certificate. No ifs, ands or buts.”
Both Anna’s estranged mother and sister vowed that Stern would never raise the child and said lawsuits were likely to be filed. Madonna Hogan, Smith’s sister said “For one thing, I’m going to make sure Howard K. Stern is not going to raise her. If Birkhead is the father I will stand behind him, but if he is not, we are going to step in.”
Mother Vergie Arthur has said Stern supplied drugs that helped kill Smith’s son Daniel when he visited Smith at a Bahamian hospital last September – which Stern has denied. She also prophetically told television’s Nancy Grace several weeks ago that her daughter would be “the next to go.”
She is reportedly in the Bahamas now, looking for baby Dannielynn, as is half the world’s paparazzi. It appears some of the custody questions will need to be settled in the island chain nation – and that the baby could be placed in the government’s social services hands.
Custody of the child could mean millions for the parent of Dannielynn, who may be in line for a fortune from the estate of Smith’s deceased 90-year-old husband, oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall. The inheritance is still being contested in see-saw court battles.
“We found no illegal drugs, just prescription drugs,” said Seminole police chief Charlie Tiger, notably adding “We are not releasing the names on those prescriptions.” Sources have said that Stern’s name may be on some prescription bottles.
CNN had a surprising report of a recent suicide attempt. The report, curious as it was little more than a sentence in a long day’s All-Anna-All-the-Time coverage, said Anna jumped in her pool to commit suicide sometime after her son’s death in September and that Stern pulled her out. It went on to say a bodyguard named Moe was called in to resuscitate her as he was at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel this week.
Prince Frederic von Anhaltm who claimed fatherhood and a ten-year affair with Smith early in the day, said neither Stern nor Birkhead was the real father, and the true dad was someone whose desire to remain anonymous led to Smith cutting a deal with Stern to play father. While much of what van Anhalt said was suspect, an arranged non-marriage for the sake of the baby rang true to some Los Angeles insiders to the situation.
“Both of the guys are wrong, I know it,” said von Anhalt, whose title was adopted through a purchase. “Anna Nicole would tell me stories about Howard. She used him and needed a father, and the real father did not want the world to know who he was. She made a deal with Howard. If the court rules for Howard, I reveal what I know.”
Smith’s (former?) lawyer Ron Rale bristled at the suggestion of a less-than-perfect union between Smith and Stern. “They talk about Howard being a Svengali, not a fair characterization, it was true love, he always placed her first.” He said Stern was still in Florida and that his mother and sister were taking care of the baby in the Bahamas.
He added he was unsure of who his client was now that Smith is dead. After a day of TV interviews, when asked who his client was, he admitted, “That’s a good question.”
He also said Smith had been running a fever before her death “A 104 degree fever, with icepacks,” he said.
Dr. Perpers said “We are investigating this thoroughly as it is an unexpected, sudden and unexplained death in a young person. We were able to ascertain there was no physical trauma and no choking. So we did rule out foul play in those terms. Regarding chemical violence, we do not have the tests in yet that might reveal something. She had no evidence of any disease, however that sometimes the nature is misleading and we will do more.”
He added “The body is being preserved. We completed autopsy and are prepared to release her remains to the custodian of record. We took plenty of DNA.” The toxicology and other reports may take four to six weeks.
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