HOLLYWOOD Evidence technicians from the Broward Sheriff’s office removed 8 bags of evidence from the 6th floor hotel suite where Ana Nicole Smith spent the last hours of a troubled life, before she collapsed Thursday afternoon and died a short time later at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. The actress, reality TV star and former Playboy Playmate of the Year was 39. Smith collapsed shortly after 2 PM in the two-room suite at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Gary Bitner, a spokesman for the Seminole Tribe of Florida which owns the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, said a hotel bodyguard apparently made the call to 911 which brought paramedics rushing to the suite. CBS4’s Ted Scouten reported Smith, who has been staying at the hotel with partner Howard K. Stern since Monday, was in the room with a nurse when she started to experience ‘difficulty’. The nurse reportedly called Memorial Hospital directly, and while she was on the phone, Smith’s bodyguard entered the room and began to perform CPR. He was continuing the assistance when paramedics arrived, and they took over as Smith was taken to the hospital. Police confirmed that she was alive when she arrived, but that she died at the hospital. The official time of death was not immediately released. Smith’s body was removed from the hospital in a black SUV shortly before 5 PM. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator of the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday. CBS4’s Brian Andrews reported that a representative for Smith told him that she was ill yesterday. Stern told Entertainment Tonight that Anna Nicole’s temperature was high Wednesday night. ET Says the couple was shopping for a new boat in Florida. There were six people in the party, which checked in Monday included a nurse, a body guard, Smith and her partner, Howard K. Stern, and two other people who were not identified. Crime Scene technicians for the Broward Sheriff’s Office completed their evidence collection at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday night, and released the suite to the hotel. The crime is being investigated by the Seminole Police Department, with assistance from the Sheriff’s office, because the hotel is on a Seminole reservation. The department said Thursday it does not intend to release police reports or other documents in the case which would normally be public record, according to tribe spokesman Bitner, because the department is not obligated to do so. Because the Seminoles are a sovereign nation, Florida rules of public access to records do not apply. A spokesperson for the Hollywood Police Department, which took the 911 call which brought paramedics, said it would not immediately release copies of that call because of the ‘on-going nature’ of the investigation into Smith’s death.
WFOR
There are so many questions we all have about her death because it was so sudden and she was so young? Like why was traveling with a nurse? Why was Dannielynn in the Bahamas and not with her? What happens to Dannielynn’s DNA test? And what killed her? It is all so sad and just like the untimely death of her son this is something we will all be talking about for the days to come.
