Anna Nicole Smith: “A Serious Crime Has Been Committed”
Just like her idol, Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith’s death is shrouded in mystery and suspicions of murder. On Friday, search warrants were executed at the homes and offices of doctors who had prescribed medication for the former model. In all, six locations were searched, including the office of Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, who was her psychiatrist, and the home and office of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed the prescription Methadone to Smith shortly before her death:
The [Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office] began investigating in March because “dangerous drugs … were part of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and I learned that these were California doctors and California prescriptions,” Attorney General Jerry Brown said at a news conference.
Brown declined to speculate on what charges the doctors might face if it was determined they improperly prescribed drugs, but indicated they might be serious.
“You don’t go to a judge and get a search warrant for somebody’s home unless you think some rather serious crime has been committed,” Brown said.
According to Eroshevich’s attorney, Gary Lincenberg, the searches had nothing to do with attempting to implicate the psychiatrist in Smith’s death:
[H]e told KNBC-TV that the investigation only concerned whether prescriptions to Smith were proper.
“This has nothing to do with whether or not Dr. Eroshevich in any way contributed to Anna Nicole Smith’s death,” he said.
Which, of course, makes perfect sense. If the medications were improper for Anna Nicole, there is no way they could have contributed to her death. If they were proper, Anna Nicole could not have taken too many at one time or mixed them with medication from other doctors. Of course not. Anna Nicole was too in control of herself to ever do anything like that.
According to documents, there were 11 prescriptions found in Anna Nicole’s room when she died on February 8, and all were authorized by Eroshevich. She had also traveled to Florida with Anna Nicole. Also, more than 600 pills, including more than 450 muscle relaxants, were missing from bottles of medication that were at the most five weeks old.
Brown does not yet know if the raid will lead to the exhumation of Smith’s body, or if the probe will expand to include an examination into the death of her son Daniel, who died on September 10, 2006. However, since Brown said he is “setting no limits on this investigation”, the death of Daniel Smith in his mother’s hospital room could very well come into play. The investigation has been far-reaching, including researching over 100,000 computer files and images, analyzing patient profiles and pharmacy logs, and interviewing many witnesses both at home and abroad.
There has been no word on charges. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said that after reviewing all the evidence, appropriate charges will be filed.
Anna Nicole also, according to the official autopsy report, suffered from chronic thyroiditis, which can cause symptoms such as fatigue, depression, cold sensitivity, weight gain, forgetfulness, weak and cramping muscles, puffy face, dry skin, dry hair, constipation, and increased menstrual flow. Anna Nicole shrewdly marketed her dumb blonde personality to the masses, but in private she dealt with many of the dumb blonde stereotypes made manifest in her physical symptoms.
A date has finally been set for the inquest into Daniel Smith’s death as well. Daniel died in his mother’s hospital room three days after his sister Dannilynne was born. At least thirty-five witnesses are expected to be called, including Howard K. Stern, who reportedly was the last person to see Daniel alive, and Larry Birkhead, Dannielynn’s biological father. He reportedly knew that Daniel was taking drugs in Los Angeles.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, the private pathologist who conducted an autopsy on Daniel, concluded that Daniel died of an accidental overdose of Methadone and antidepressants.
In a completely unrelated event, Howard K. Stern was at the home of Dr. Eroshevich when the raid on her house took place:
Howard K. Stern, Smith’s attorney and companion, reportedly was at Eroshevich’s Studio City home when investigators arrived. The psychiatrist had been watching Stern’s dogs while he was away in New York, and he arrived back early Friday, Stern’s attorney Lin Wood told CelebTV.com.
“He is not involved in anything that is being investigated and it has nothing to do with him,” said James T. Neavitt, another Stern attorney.
In the Anna Nicole Smith saga, we have a mother and son who are dead, and an infant who is being raised by her bio-dad, more or less well. In life, Anna Nicole was larger than life, a virtual hurricane of blonde hair and voluptuous breasts and sex appeal. She lived big and died big, and dragged along many in her wake, including son Daniel, friend/attorney/lover/professional leech Howard, and on-again/off-again lover Larry Birkhead. Anna Nicole did not have real blonde hair, or genetically large breasts, and Anna Nicole wasn’t even her real name, but she marketed “Anna Nicole” to the masses and they ate it up like Jim’s Krispy Chicken. Inside, though, she was still Vickie Lynn Hogan, the poor girl from Texas who knew her strengths and played them to the hilt.
Frankly, I think Anna Nicole was crazy….crazy like a fox. I don’t think she was stupid, but I do think she played stupid very well, like Marilyn before her and Paris after her, and she turned that into dollars. I believe that all she truly wanted was security for herself and Daniel, but she had no idea either where to look for it or what it even looked like. She just kept looking for this security that she was afraid she’d never find yet still hoped for. And, along the way, the demons she tried to fight overtook her, and drugs became her way of escape and coping.
I believe she did all of this for Daniel, believing she was creating financial security for him, but at what cost? Surely she knew that she was paying a high price for her paycheck. I believe she loved Daniel with all her heart, and that after he died she was lost. Not even looking after Dannielynn could help ease her pain. Did she have a death wish? I personally believe so, but I don’t think that she was purposefully trying to kill herself.
Howard was just one of the people reaping what Anna Nicole had sown…I believe it is too early to try to pin all of this on Howard. I do think he loved her and is genuinely grieving. That said, I also think he used her in a way, just as she used him in a way. There were so many in her life who leeched off her, and all the evidence has yet to be collected and examined. I want to see what the reports have to say about her doctors and the medication they prescribed for her, and why, and in what amounts. I also want to know how she was able to get so many drugs…when I go to the store I can’t even buy Sudafed without going to the pharmacy and producing a driver’s license, insurance ID, a blood sample, fingerprints, and my first born child. And what about this story?
In the end, Anna Nicole had become in private much of what she had pretended to be in public and on her television show…confused and forgetful, not truly knowing what she was doing. She became a caricature of the caricature she created. What part did Howard play in her death, if any? Only time will tell.
Oh, and I really do not think that Howard and Larry were gay lovers…that’s stretching it, even for an ANS story.
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Methadone is now the #2 Killer Drug in the U.S. This is a legal drug that has been thought to be safe for the past 40 years. Only recently when its use became approved for pain management patients has the cardio toxic risks emerged. Previously methadone has been used exclusively for replacement therapy for heroin patients and death was thought to be an effect of the accumulation of many years of drug abuse. With the surge in pain medication misuse and abuse more patients are being referred to methadone clinics and physicians treating pain who believe the myth that methadone is safer or non addictive because of it’s use with weaning addicts from heroin. Methadone is more addictive then any other pain medication including heroin and because of it’s extremely long half life, cardio toxic risks, numerous fatal drug interactions, dosages based on tolerance, and small margin of error. Up until Nov 2006 the government and pharmaceutical companies have been suppressing the numerous health and fatality risks related to methadone.
there are between 800,000 & 900,000 (some stats give diff numbers) heroin addicts in the U.S and 1,881 people died from heroin in the U.S. in 2004.
there are 200,000 people on methadone for drug treatment and I don’t have the number of people on it for pain but even if we double the 200,000 and assume it’s 400,000 total people on methadone there were 3,849 deaths in 2004
It looks like the “gold standard” is killing more then the drug its supposed to save people from!!!!
Every day 10.9 people die from Methadone (according to 2004 stats, not
including car accident deaths caused by drivers under the influence of Methadone)
We (the families of methadone victims) are requesting new laws surrounding who can prescribe Methadone, clinic rules and regulations as well as stiffer penalties for those caught selling their take home doses. The whole methadone maintenance system needs an overhauling. We cannot continue to allow a legal medication to be killing more people then the illegal drugs. Our government cannot be allowed to use tax dollars to fund their legal drug dealing operations.
We are asking government agencies to enact stricter guidelines in prescribing methadone for any reason. It must be mandatory that all doctors be certified and trained in the pharmacology of methadone; inpatient stays must be required during induction to methadone; all staff be extensively trained in monitoring methadone patients for symptoms of toxicity. Clinic patients should be tested weekly for legal and illegal drugs that are taken with methadone to get “ hi gh†or experience “euphoria†such as benzodiazepines, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana etc… and face severe consequences or mandatory detoxification from the methadone program after 3 dirty urines. Selling of take home doses must result in termination from methadone program permanently throughout the U.S. When presenting inebriated at clinic, clinic should also document such activity as well as prevent client from driving. Take home doses for all patients receiving methadone should be eliminated thus preventing the risk of diversion or precautions such as pill safe should be implemented. http://www.thepillsafe.com/
Current statistics show that nearly 4000 people a year die from methadone. These deaths are mostly happening to pain management and detoxification patients’ wit hi n the first 10 days of taking initial dose. Most of these deaths are related to methadone prescribed with other medications that react as additives with the methadone. Diversion of methadone is a serious problem because it lands t hi s most deadly drug on streets. Statistics also state that methadone is contributing to more deaths nationwide then heroin and only second to cocaine deaths.
The potential of abuse, diversion, and overdose to new patients being prescribed methadone is overwhelming. The unique properties of methadone, it’s long half life, and it’s negative interaction with numerous drugs make it an optimal choice as a last result treatment for chronic pain and addiction.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely
Melissa Zuppardi
http://www.HARMD.org
Comment by Melissa — October 14, 2007 @ 10:19 am
Excellent summary of a very confusing and secretive situation. I watched a special on her on the E! channel and I truly believer that while Howard was using Anna as his meal ticket, they were in fact very close and he loved in some way or another.
Larry Birkhead may possibly be gay, but he seemed smitten with ANS, and I agree, the whole gay lover thing is just stupid. Not too mention, who cares if they are gay.
This whole gay thing in Hollywood really annoys me. Can’t we go back to the time when a person’s sexual proclivities were kept private and people behaved discreetly. I don’t care if you are or aren’t gay, just stop acting like total a-hole whatever you are.
Comment by D — October 14, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Methadone is a killer… I know two people that died in the last week from that drug. Its scary to me.
Comment by MySpace Addons — October 14, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
HI
Comment by Fran Ruh — October 14, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Hi, I feel that is long overdue that Daniel’s inquest has been postponed some many times because of Howard Stern’s expensive and well know attorney’s. It is about time that the inquest will be on October 30th or I will go bonkers. If Howard has nothing to hide, why would he have this inquest postponed so many times. I think that Daniel became a burden to Howard because of Daniel’s close relationship with his mother. Daniel hated and was afraid of Howard, and also told the household that if Daniel called not to put it through to his mother. How cold, but typical of Howard. Daniel and was very upset that Howard was continually feeding his mother drugs. The date that Dr. Purpura announced the findings, he stated that Howard Stern told him, that when he woke up Anna was still sleeping. When she awoke, she was so weak that she asked Howard to help her to the bathroom. He stated that he went out, and never checked on Anna before he left. He was going to make the final arrangements on the boat that Anna was buying. He never called, so how concerned could he be about Anna. Also I don’t agree with Melissa who wrote the article which really was about the inquest, but she made it all about methadone. I disagree with alot you said. I worked in a methadone maintenenace treatment program in the Bronx for many years. I don’t know where you get all this information, but it sounds like it is from disgruntled methadone patients or someone who may have lost children from methadone. I would be interested to know where you live. I had worked for Albert Einstein in the Bronx, who has 12 methadone clinics. All our clinics are under OASIS, our funding source. I think methadone is an excellent modality, and it has been the most researched medication in all the medications. We have medical doctors, PA’s in each clinic, and the patients get complete physicals every year. Also, alot of the patients have a tremendous amount of problems (including HIV, etc and psychiatric problems. We have psychiatrists in every clinic. Interestingly, I have never heard of two patients dying in one week, that is also why I would like to know where you are located. Yes, things happen, and methadone has veen sold Who stated that methadone affects the heart, has toxic risks, etc. I don’t have time to read your whole negative article on methadone, but when I do I may e-mail you back. Some of the information that I did read sounded ludricious to me.
Comment by Fran Ruh — October 14, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
MURDER .. Daniel was murdered because he knew his mom was destined to be killed and told the Los Angeles detective more than a few times. Daniel did not tell Birkhead who lived a mile away, he didn’t trust him. Howard needed to get rid of Daniel and keep Anna drugged out so he’d be covered for the murders. Face it, he’s the one who made sure she was drugged out and wrote checks from her account. He taped her drugged out to have the videos to prove she was out of it. And, yes, gay men, they both are as videos prove with Anna and Kapor, both men were in gay male bars in the valley. NO real men go into those pickup places but GAY MEN. I want to see Daniel’s killer in prison as come big ugly guys squeeze .. we all know who he is.
Comment by Val — October 15, 2007 @ 4:37 am
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