Anna Nicole: Battle Over the Body

Feb. 15, 2007 — -- The battle over what to do with Anna Nicole Smith's body is turning out to be as confusing as the mystery surrounding her death.

In a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., courtroom, lawyers from all sides argued about Smith's remains. Disagreements between Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, and her mother over where she should be buried, along with the question surrounding the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, have fueled the contentious and confounding exchange.

Broward County Circuit Court Judge Larry Seidlin said he refused to make any hasty decisions about Smith's final resting place.

"I want her to rest in peace. When we bury her, I want her to be there forever. I don't want to put this court or any other court in the position that in 20 years we are exhuming her body," he said. "We're not dropping the ball here. We're looking at this in the global way."

Broward County medical examiner Joshua Perper said that further testing of Smith's body would not answer any questions surrounding Smith's death.

"No, we don't need to take more testing," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's criminal, civil or paternity testing. In my opinion, as a professional, we did maximum and optimal testing."

Case Growing More Bizarre by the Day

It has been a week since Smith died in Hollywood, Fla., and with each passing day the story gets more feverish and bizarre. Today's heated courtroom exchange was preceded by a similar one Wednesday.

"Is time of the essence? Yes, because the body is decaying," Krista Barth, the attorney for Smith's partner, Howard K. Stern, said Wednesday.

The lawyers represent Stern, Smith's mother and her ex-lover Larry Birkhead. The bickering was too much for Seidlin, who refused to be rushed.

"This body belongs to me right now. … That baby," he said, referring to Anna Nicole Smith's body, is in a cold, cold storage room. It's not decaying so fast. I can go over there now and look at it. I can go back in a month and still look at it. So there's no rush," Seidlin said. "We're not rushing. I am not rushing. We are crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i.' We're gonna spend a lot of time together."

Smith's body is now in Perper's possession . He said the autopsy was complete, but he would not get involved in the battle over Smith's remains.

"Once we receive a valid, final legal order from a court in Broward, we will comply with it," Perper said.

Did Smith Starve Her Baby?

Meanwhile, the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com has uncovered more evidence about Smith's life, including an affidavit from Smith's former nanny alleging that Smith said to underfeed the baby so that she would look "sexy."

"I think Anna Nicole Smith was off her hinges, that she basically was a woman out of control, suicidal, drugged up and really unfit to take care of herself or anybody else," said TMZ.com managing editor Howard Levin.

Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, agreed.

"I tried to, to warn her about drugs and the people that she hung around, and she didn't listen," Arthur said after her daughter's death.

The hearing over custody of Smith's body will resume in Florida this morning. There will also be a fight over whether she will be buried in Texas, where she's from, or in the Bahamas, where her son is buried.

The Bahamian courts will decide who gets custody of her infant daughter.