Bahamas- Authorities in the Bahamas said Tuesday that the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son over the weekend could not be attributed to natural causes, but refused to elaborate.
Daniel Smith flew in Saturday to visit his mother and three-day-old sister at the private Doctors Hospital in Nassau. The following morning, the 20-year-old was dead.
An autopsy was performed Monday. On Tuesday, Her Majesty’s Coroner Linda P. Virgill said that based on preliminary findings, “the cause of death is not natural.” But, she said, “we wish to reserve [announcing] the cause of death at this time,” adding that a toxicology results and a full autopsy report will be released by the end of the week.
Virgill said an inquest will take place afterward and her staff will interview all “relevant witnesses,” including Anna Nicole Smith, hospital workers and flight attendants, to develop an official timeline.
The coroner’s statements came in the wake of a story in the Nassau Guardian that Daniel Smith suffered a “massive heart attack” and that antidepressants had been found in his system. The newspaper said that Daniel was seen “vomiting uncontrollably” shortly before his death.
Police on Tuesday sought to downplay the Guardian report.
“That’s just talk,” Reginald Ferguson, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamian Police Force, told the Associated Press. “We have no evidence at this time to suggest that.”
“[Daniel Smith] was supposedly asleep in the chair in the room and didn’t seem to wake up. It would appear from our report that the mother had gotten up, saw him in the chair and he appeared to be sound asleep. She tried to wake him up, he was unresponsive and she sounded the alarm.
At a news conference Tuesday, a hospital official said doctors tried everything to to save Daniel Smith.
“Resuscitative efforts using advanced life-support protocol continued for 22 minutes without response,” said Barry Rassin, president and CEO of Doctors Hospital.
On Monday, Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer, Howard K. Stern, issued a statement saying family members “do not believe that drugs or alcohol were a factor.” It was Stern who reportedly identified the younger Smith’s body in the hospital morgue.
Meanwhile, authorities said that Daniel’s body would not be returned to the U.S. until after the coroner completed her report. The California-based Butler’s Funeral Homes & Crematoriums said it had been contacted by the family and was awaiting clearance to have the remains returned.
Anna Nicole Smith, 38, was in the Bahamas to give birth to her daughter, whose name–and father–has yet to be divulged. Prime Minister, Perry Christie, confirmed at a news conference Monday that the TrimSpa spokesmodel had been granted permanent residency to the country last week.