Perper said he did not know if Smith took the glass ?by herself? or if someone ?handed it to her.? ?Sometimes she took a few [gulps] from the bottle,? he added. ?You?re not supposed to do that.?
Perper also said a bacterial infection, stemming from injections in her buttocks, a viral infection and presence of the flu in her system also contributed to her death as did medications already in her system.
During a press conference this morning, Perper confirmed reports that Anna Nicole had received a shot into her bottom before she left the Bahamas for Florida. The injection was of Vitamin B or Human Growth Hormone. The injection ruptured one of several abscesses in her buttocks, which caused an infection in the model?s system and a fever of 105.
She made the decision not to go to the hospital, Perper confirmed.
?She was a very strong kind of person and she was the one in command,? Perper said. ?If the boss is telling ?I don?t want? you don?t question the boss many time. Whether that was wise or not is another question.?
Perper also revealed that during his investigation he discovered Smith had long suffered from back and abdominal pain, which she was taking Methadone for. The model was on nine medications in total including a ?variety? of anti-anxiety and depression medications and human growth hormone.
Anna Nicole died on February 8, 2007.
The model?s autopsy results were delayed earlier this month when Seminole police said they were investigating additional evidence in Smith?s death.
?From my end, there is nothing dramatic in this,? Perper said during a recent interview on Nancy Grace?s show. ?I want to make sure that all of the evidence that is available is reviewed by me. Either this evidence is going to reinforce my conclusion or to weaken them or to change them.?
In the days following Smith?s death, Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said that there was no evidence of foul play, and that no illegal drugs were found in Anna Nicole’s room at the hotel. Only prescription drugs were found, and he would not release the name or names on the prescriptions.
A private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room, Tiger said. He said Smith’s bodyguard administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation about an hour before she was declared dead. Tiger said Anna Nicole came to the hospital dead on arrival.
Anna Nicole was reportedly treated with Narcan on the scene. Narcan is a substance generally administered to remove narcotics from a person’s system.
The mother of Anna Nicole blamed drugs following for her daughter’s sudden death.
“I think she had too many drugs, just like Danny (Smith’s late son),” her mother, Virgie Arthur, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” following Smith?s death. “I tried to warn her about drugs and the people that she hung around with. She didn’t listen.”
“She was too drugged up,” Arthur said. “By the last interview I saw of her, she was so wasted.”
Following Smith?s death, sheriff’s deputies carried out at least eight, brown paper bags sealed with red evidence tape from Smith’s hotel room. Several detectives reviewed hotel surveillance tapes to look for clues as to what happened, Deputy Police Chief Michael Browne said. He said at the time, they had interviewed everyone connected to the death and no one was under suspicion. “Nothing about this death seems suspicious. We’re not treating it that way,” Browne said. “We’re being very thorough. We’re going to look at everything.”
Smith’s attorney, Ron Rale, said he had talked to her the Tuesday or Wednesday before her death and she had flu symptoms and a fever and was still grieving over her son. He dismissed claims her death was related to drugs as “a bunch of nonsense.”
“Poor Anna Nicole,” he said. “She’s been the underdog. She’s been besieged … and she’s been trying her best and nobody should have to endure what she’s endured.”
In recent TV appearances, her speech was often slurred and she seemed out of it. Some critics said she seemed drugged-out.
“Undoubtedly it will be found at the end of the day that drugs featured in her death as they did in the death of poor Daniel,” said Michael Scott, a former attorney for Smith in the Bahamas.
Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K. Stern were in South Florida the week of her death for business surrounding a purchase from Reel Deal Yachts of Miami Beach. Reel Deal’s owner and President, Marcos Morjain, confirmed that the actual yacht purchase was finalized in late January with Stern, Smith, and their Captain, during their last trip to Miami.
Smith was enthusiastic about the yacht purchase and having it moved to their new home in the Bahamas.
Since Smith?s death, the paternity of her six-month-old daughter Dannielynn has become a major focus.
Last week Larry Birkhead and the baby were given DNA tests in the Bahamas. Those samples were sent to labs in the United States. The results are expected as soon as this week, though Smith?s companion Howard K. Stern filed an appeal in a Bahamas courtroom.
In other Smith news, the inquest into the death of Anna?s 20-year old son, Daniel is expected to begin this week in the Bahamas.
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