By Jeffrey Jolson
Anna was a Marylin for Many
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 02/10/07 – Just when it appeared things couldn’t get any weirder, news reports indicate Howard K. Stern has taken back Smith’s disputed beachfront mansion in the Bahamas after arriving in a heavily guarded motorcade. CNN said the motorcade was able to gain entrance to the estate, just locked up by its apparent owner, with a court order that stated the only persons allowed control of the premises was Stern and Dannielynn. It was not clear whether the five-month-old baby was brought to the house or if Stern stayed when the tinted-window motorcade later left.
Included in the SUV motorcade was the mother of a high ranking Bahamian official, whom sources said was Shane Gibson, the minister of immigration. The Gibson family is reported to be friends of Smith’s and helped her in her smooth move to the sovereign state, and are said to have been among those taking care of the baby since the actresses death.
Smith’s attorney Wayne Munroe spoke to reporters outside the gated estate and said he had filed a robbery complaint with police over computer equipment and other personal effects allegedly taken from the home.
He would not say where Dannielynn was but “As the other registered parent, Howard Stern has the right to speak to the custody of Dannielynn. That has to be respected unless and until a court, and not a person, says otherwise,” Munroe said.
Witnesses reported seeing Stern inside the mansion with TV crews shortly before the attorneys spoke to reporters, and Munroe confirmed that he was in Nassau. Several SUVS with black-tinted windows exited the gated mansion’s grounds earlier.
The news comes hours after the attorney for U.S. developer G. Ben Thompson who claims ownership of the waterfront mansion had retaken control of the residence. Godfrey Pinder is attorney for Thompson, a former boyfriend of Smith’s who was embroiled in an ownership disputem, said that Smith’s death meant her claims to the mansion were no longer legitimate. Smith had said Thompson gave her the estate, Thompson said no way.
“We changed the locks and have put a chain on the gate,” Pinder told The Associated Press. “We have physical control of the house.”
Not anymore. It appears Smith, and by extension Stern has friends in high places and was able to secure a court order in record time. Stern is listed on the Bahamian birth certificate as the father of Dannielynn.
With that sort of local clout, it may prove difficult for Larry Birkhead, who filed a paternity claim suit in Los Angeles, to carry his challenge to the Bahamas. Yet that is exactly what he will need to do. Not only is that where the baby girl is, it is also where Stern has been able to stymie requests for DNA samples from her.
Smith’s estranged mother Vergie Arthur found that out this morning, as she was told by Smith’s Bahamian attorney that she had no rights to the girl in the Bahamas, where the child was born, but not yet a citizen.
