Anna Nicole Smith's body was almost exhumed after judge suspected she and her son were murdered
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A judge ordered that Anna Nicole Smith's body be exhumed just a few years after her death, ordering a new investigation into the reason she died. Judge Larry Seidlin reportedly observed "red flags" during a six-day hearing to choose her final resting place in March 2007, echoing concerns expressed by other top criminologists who suspected foul play in her death.
Seidlin, dubbed the "crying judge" as he found it hard to control his emotions while deciding Smith should be buried close to her son, Daniel, in the Bahamas, wrote a book about her death, titled 'The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith'. In this book, he enumerated the many reasons why he was convinced the principal investigations into Smith and her son's deaths were not proper, per Radar Online.
RELATED NEWS
'It's time to determine if we're looking at a double murder and cover-up'
Seidlin concluded that someone committed manslaughter by reckless behaviour, and elborated why Smith never got justice after she was found dead in a hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood in February 2007. As Smith's body was decomposing rapidly, the court quickly pronounced its judgement and later requested that both corpses be exhumed to obtain answers. "It's time to determine if we're looking at a double murder and cover-up," former FBI agent Ted Gunderson reportedly said at that time.
Gunderson added, "The best way to do that would be to exhume the bodies, bring them back to the States and give them fresh autopsies by an independent medical examiner. Until then, there will always be a question about what happened to this tragic mother and son."
Smith and her son's drug-related deaths were ruled accidental by authorities. Seidlin, however, believed the two were murdered after carrying out his own investigations privately for three years and connecting the model's death to that of the late Michael Jackson, as reported by Radar Online.
Who was Anna Nicole Smith?
Smith (born Vickie Lynn Hogan) was a model and actress, who rose to prominence in Playboy after being selected as Playmate of the Year in 1993. From 2002 through 2004, Smith appeared on the E! reality show 'The Anna Nicole Show'. She also appeared in 'Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult' in 1994 and 'Be Cool' in 2005. Smith made headlines in 1994 when she married 89-year-old billionaire J Howard Marshall at the age of 26. After Marshall died in 1995, Smith and Marshall's son, E Pierce Marshall, went to court over his fortune. The case went to the the Supreme Court twice and lasted even after Smith’s death in Feburary 8, 2007, as reported by Reuters.