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Anna Nicole Smith Dead

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 08, 2007 03:35 PM EST

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 08, 2007 05:30 PM EST UPDATED

By Howard Breuer and Wendy Grossman

Anna Nicole Smith Photo by: Todd

Williamson / FilmMagic
Anna Nicole Smith has died in Florida, her attorney confirmed Thursday.

Ron Rale said he did not know the cause of death and was waiting for the results of an autopsy, which is
expected to happen Friday.

Sources say Smith was rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive in her hotel room at the Hard
Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., where she was staying with her companion, Howard K. Stern.

"At 2:49 this afternoon we were advised by hospital personnel that Anna Nicole Smith died," Seminole, Fla.,
police Chief Charlie Tiger told reporters. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family."

Her 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn Hope, was not with them, sources say, but is being cared for in the
Bahamas by the mother of Shane Gibson, a high-ranking Bahamian official who is a close friend of Smith's.

Stern, with whom she exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony on Sept. 28, "is just devastated," Rale
says. "He can't speak."

Before learning of Smith's death, Rale told PEOPLE, "She hasn't been well the past few days, she's had
cold and flu symptoms."

According to Access Hollywood, she was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital shortly after 2 p.m. ET on
Thursday.

More on this story

• Get the latest news updates on the death of Anna Nicole Smith
On Wednesday, a Los Angeles judge had ordered Smith, 39, and her 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn
Hope to submit to a DNA test by Feb. 21. The test is tied to a paternity lawsuit filed by photographer Larry
Birkhead, who claims he is Dannielynn's father. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, is listed as the infant's
father on her birth certificate.

After the news of Smith's death, an emergency hearing was scheduled to occur in Los Angeles on Friday
regarding the paternity of Dannielynn Hope, PEOPLE reports. Birkhead's attorney, Deborah Opri, wants to
take a DNA swab from Smith's corpse, which Rale calls "the lowest form of behavior I've ever heard of."

Anna Nicole Smith had been enjoying a vacation weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel. According to Julianne
Carelli, the public relations and advertising manager at the hotel, Smith checked in on Monday night and
was due to check out Friday.

Carelli says Smith was a "frequent guest" and celebrated her last birthday at the hotel and casino and filmed
a TrimSpa video there.

"We're shocked," Kathleen Hart, who is married to Donald Hart, Smith's stepfather "during her growing-up
years," tells PEOPLE. "We're just in shock. On the heels of Danny's death, it is hard to deal with."

And Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said in a statement to CNN: "I'm very saddened to learn about Anna
Nicole's passing. She was a dear friend who meant a great deal to the Playboy family and to me personally.
My thoughts and prayers are with her friends and loved ones during this difficult time." Smith was a Playboy
Pet of the Month in 1992 and a year later was the magazine's Playmate of the Year.

Smith also rose to fame modeling for Guess jeans. "This is a very tragic and sad day," the company's CEO,
Paul Marciano, said in a statement. "Personally I feel she did not recover from the loss of her son Daniel
who was the love of her life." And in an interview with CNN, he said "she had something magic."

Inquest Ordered Into Daniel Smith's Death

TUESDAY JANUARY 16, 2007 03:20 PM EST

By Linda Trischitta

Daniel and Anna Nicole Smith in

2004 Photo by: INF
The death of Anna Nicole Smith's eldest child Daniel Wayne Smith will be investigated by a Bahamian court
in an inquest to begin on March 26, Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez tells PEOPLE.

"There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding Daniel's death that we want to clear up, " says
Gomez, who made his decision after reviewing Royal Bahamas Police reports over the weekend.
During the inquest, a magistrate will investigate where, when and by what manner Daniel died in Doctors
Hospital in Nassau on Sept. 10, 2006. Just three days prior, his mother, 39, gave birth to Daniel's half-sister,
Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern. The 20-year-old had flown to Nassau from California to meet the baby and
visit with his mother.

Gomez says that a witness list will tally "in excess of 20 people," including everyone who was in the room
where Daniel died. So far, "no witnesses have been notified yet," says Gomez

According to Gomez, the inquest will cover more than the 12 hours or so that Daniel was in The Bahamas.
"It won't be confined to any particular time," Gomez says. "It will be open, concentrating mainly on, but not
limited to, before he left California."

After Daniel's death, Dr. Cyril Wecht, a U.S. pathologist hired by Anna Nicole, found during a second
autopsy conducted in Nassau that Methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro were in the young man's body.

In October, officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force flew to California to interview people who knew
Daniel.

Anna Nicole Smith's Bahamian lawyer, Wayne R. Munroe, told PEOPLE last week that an inquest could be
quashed.

"Her position is to comply with the law," Munroe said of his client. "You have to remember that in the
beginning of all of this, not much was known (surrounding the circumstances of Daniel's death.) She's not at
complete peace, but she is more at peace than she was at the beginning. In my judgment there is no reason
to have an inquest, but I have not talked with her about it."

Anna Nicole is also facing a legal challenge as to the paternity of her daughter, Dannielynn. Howard K. Stern
was named as the baby's father on her Bahamian birth certificate. However, Anna Nicole's former boyfriend,
photographer Larry Birkhead, is suing her in both Bahamas and California courts, alleging that he is the
child's father.

I have always anna because she reminds me of marilyn, The FIRST TIME I saw anna
Nicole,,was waaaaay back in the eighties in a Mag. ADD FOR GUESS – I thought OMG
who is this beauty,,and LOOK! Shes not skin and bone either,,lol.. she was a star and she
had some problems with life and love,,but who the fuck doesn’t huh?