Private Autopsy Says Drug Combo Killed Anna Nicole's Son

Sept. 27, 2006 — -- Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son died from a "classical" combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs, according to Cyril Wecht, a U.S. pathologist who conducted a private autopsy.

Daniel Smith had methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro in his system, which produced a lethal "cumulative effect on the central nervous system," leading to his death on Sept. 10, said Wecht.

"The fact that we have these drugs and the levels of the drugs overwhelmingly and most logically point to this being a tragic, accidental, drug-related death," Wecht told The Associated Press from his home in the Pittsburgh area.

Zoloft and Lexapro are antidepressants commonly prescribed for patients suffering anxiety and panic disorders.

Methadone, a pain reliever, is also commonly used by people recovering from drug addictions. Wecht told the AP, "No one has suggested anything having to do with drug addiction in this boy."

Smith was reportedly suffering from depression in the weeks before he went to the Bahamas to visit his reality TV star mom, who had just given birth to a daughter. He died in the hospital room where his mother was recuperating.

Daniel Gone, Fight Over Danilynne

In the meantime, Smith's attorney and her former boyfriend have begun a paternity fight over Smith's newborn, Danilynne Hope, which she named after her son.

Howard K. Stern, Smith's attorney, told a cable news program Monday night that he plans to marry the former Playboy playmate.

"We will never get over Daniel not being with us, but at the same time we have a big responsibility and a big bundle of joy that hopefully, hopefully, will not be affected at all by what we are going through right now,'' Stern said on "Larry King Live."

He became the second person to claim parental rights. A day earlier, Smith's former boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead, told another news program that he believes he is the father. He dated Smith until June and told Fox he learned about the pregnancy in February.

Smith turns 39 in November and married Bill Smith, Daniel's father, in 1985, but they divorced two years later.

Text Message: You're Not the Father

Before she gave birth, Anna Nicole Smith had relocated to the Bahamas and remains in Nassau under medical care. But the reason for that move is disputed by the two men who claim to have fathered her baby.

Stern told CNN that he and Smith moved to the Bahamas to raise their new child in relative normalcy. But her former boyfriend, Birkhead, claims the pair moved to the island to avoid a custody battle over the baby.

Smith could not be reached for comment, and Stern declined a request from ABC News to elaborate on his earlier comments. Birkhead was also unavailable for comment.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Birkhead gave a vivid description of how he learned about the new baby, saying in February that Smith told him, "I'm pregnant. We're having a baby.'"

He said that he then went to the ultrasound appointments, cooked food for Smith when she had cravings and "did everything I could to be supportive'' before Stern told him in a text message that he's not the father. Birkhead said he is seeking a DNA paternity test to resolve the issue

From Romance to Rejection

Birkhead said he met Smith at the 2003 Kentucky Derby, where he was assigned to photograph her. The following year, he said that her lawyer, Stern, contacted him and said that he was impressed with the photographer's work and invited him to accompany Smith on a promotional tour for a line of diet and nutritional pill products she was promoting.

The following year Smith and Birkhead began to date, according to Birkhead, and the romance continued until last June. In included five months in which he took on the role of expectant father. As he described it on Fox, Birkhead was alternately excited and anxious, accompanying Smith to doctor's visits and helping plan for the child's birth.

When he received the text message from Stern saying he wasn't the father, Birkhead said he confronted Smith.

"She said, 'He's just jealous. Don't listen to him because he thought that he and I should have a baby someday,' as crazy as that sounds,''' Birkhead told Fox.

But he said problems emerged after Smith insisted that Birkhead give up his professional commitments to devote more time to her.

"I was in the middle of some business commitments, also was trying to help her with … things that she needed to get done -- taking her son to school, just little things around the house, trying to satisfy her food cravings, things like that," Birkhead told Fox.

Their relationship ended when Smith sent him out for a pair of Chanel sunglasses one day in June. When he returned without them, "she went ballistic in a hair salon.''

They haven't spoken since, Birkhead told Fox.

Her current boyfriend, Stern, said Monday on CNN that he is sure he is the father.

"Based on the timing of when the baby was born, there is really no doubt in either of our minds," he said, referring to Smith and himself.

But he said he wouldn't voluntarily take a DNA test.

"If legally compelled to do so, I will,'' Stern said. "But I'm not going to do any favors for [Birkhead] right now.