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Nancy Grace
Anna Nicole Smith`s Mother Speaks Out
Aired October 12, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, exclusive, the stunning and unexpected death of cover girl Anna Nicole Smith`s 20-year-old son, Daniel, under investigation, Smith`s mom speaking out, insisting her grandson`s sudden death is no accident. In fact, she claims the 20-year-old was murdered. Tonight, Daniel Smith`s personal doctor under questioning by police as the investigation heads all the way from the Bahamas to California. The 20- year-old died there at the hospital with Anna Nicole Smith and her brand- new daughter. Found in his system, methadone. How did he get his hands on methadone, a high-powered cure for heroin addiction commonly found only in hospitals, rehab clinics and doctors` offices?
And breaking developments tonight. Just released surveillance photos emerge in the search for a 21-year-old Vermont coed. The photos seem to show the girl with a man whose cell phone she had apparently just used before she vanished.
But first, the death of Anna Nicole`s only son under investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would Daniel Smith be simultaneously taking the antidepressants Lexapro and Zoloft, in addition to methadone, a drug commonly used to treat heroin addicts, especially when right now, there`s no indication he suffered from an illegal drug problem?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a rule, methadone is given for pain or for narcotic dependency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was it that such a combination of lethal drugs could kill a seemingly healthy 20-year-old like Daniel in literally a matter of minutes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Generally, methadone is a narcotic, like heroin, and it makes individuals breathe less deeply and get less oxygen into their brain. Once that happens, combined with antidepressants that can affect the heart, the heart can go into an arrhythmia, and the person basically dies of a combination of respiratory and cardiac arrest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Was it murder? According to Daniel Smith`s grandmother, the answer is yes. Out to executive editor of "In Touch Weekly" Dan Wakeford. Why? Why? Who would commit murder on a 20-year-old young man?
DAN WAKEFORD, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Exactly. And that`s the question the investigators from the Bahamas are trying to find out. They`ve been spending time in California, talking to his doctors, talking to his friends, trying to find out where he got his methadone from.
GRACE: Joining us tonight in a primetime exclusive, Virgie Arthur. This is Anna Nicole`s mother, Daniel`s grandmother. Ms. Arthur, thank you for being with us. Ms. Arthur, can you hear me?
VIRGIE ARTHUR, ANNA NICOLE SMITH`S MOTHER: Yes. I`m sorry.
GRACE: OK. Can you hear me now?
ARTHUR: Yes, I can.
GRACE: Thank you for being with us, Ms. Arthur. Ms. Arthur, Virgie Arthur, not just Anna Nicole`s mother and the grandmother of young Daniel, also a law enforcement officer for 28 years. Ms. Arthur, you clearly believe that this death was no accident. Why?
ARTHUR: There wasn`t any sign of Daniel taking any kind of drugs, other than a sleeping pill and an anxiety pill.
GRACE: And apparently, in his bloodstream, there is seven times the amount expected to find in an antidepressant. What do you believe is suspicious about these circumstances surrounding his death, Ms. Arthur?
ARTHUR: Seven times as much? Why would you need seven times? You only need one overdose. One time is too many, but seven times? That`s kind of like overkill.
GRACE: Another question regarding the methadone. You know from law enforcement that is one of the most common cures for heroin addiction. People very often become addicted to the methadone itself. So how would you explain such high levels of Lexapro, Zoloft and methadone in this boy`s bloodstream?
GRACE: Somebody had to give it to him. He had to get it from somewhere.
ARTHUR: I`m reading in "In Touch Weekly" -- and with us tonight, the executive editor of that, Dan Wakeford -- Ms. Arthur, in here you say, "It was murder, I know it was, and someone has to pay." In that room, there were only Daniel Smith by his mother`s side, Anna Nicole Smith, your daughter, and apparently, Howard Stern, the lawyer, now proclaiming to be the father of the baby. So if it wasn`t suicide, that only leaves Anna Nicole and Howard Stern.
ARTHUR: That`s true. There was only three people in that room. Danny was one of them.
GRACE: What could their possible motive be, Ms. Arthur? Why would they want to do this to a young boy?
ARTHUR: I don`t have a clue. I don`t know why. I just know that Danny didn`t kill hisself. He did not overdose hisself.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD K. STERN, ANNA NICOLE`S ATTORNEY: Anna woke me up. And this was the next morning. You know, stuff happened through the night where, you know, at first, I was going to sleep on the floor in between the two beds -- there were two hospitals beds. And Anna was in the bed closest to the window and Daniel was in the bed closest to the door. And Daniel at some point said to me that, you know, he wasn`t really that tired, so why didn`t I just take the bed? And he was going to sit up and watch TV. And then at one point, Daniel said to me, How come I`m so tired? And in hindsight, I wish that I had seen that as some sort of signal and seen that something wasn`t right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, in a primetime exclusive, speaking out is the mother of Anna Nicole Smith, famous cover girl, and she`s a 28-year veteran of law enforcement mother. Virgie Arthur is joining us from her home there in Montgomery, Texas. Ms. Arthur, right now, as we speak, the embalmed body of your grandson. that you helped raise for many years, is still sitting in a funeral home, awaiting burial. Why?
ARTHUR: That`s my question, why? That`s the last bit of respect that anybody gets in the world, is to be buried. So why is my baby laying in a cold room somewhere and not being buried?
GRACE: How did you learn that Daniel had passed away?
ARTHUR: My husband came home and told me. He heard it over the news, and he came home to tell me.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERN: The next thing that I remember -- or that happened from my perspective, is that in the morning, Anna said, Howard, Howard, Daniel`s not breathing. So I, you know, went over there really quickly. And at this point, Daniel had moved in the bed with his mom, so they were actually staying in the same bed. And I checked Daniel`s neck and didn`t feel anything.
And we called, you know, the nurses, and said it was an emergency. And then the medical staff just came rushing into the room, and they tried to revive him. And they tried to ask -- or tell Anna and myself to leave, but she wasn`t going to leave her baby, and she -- she stayed there. And we were at the foot of the bed, and she was hugging Daniel`s legs and she was praying to Jesus and she was telling Jesus to take her and not take Daniel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, the sudden and unexpected death of a young man just 20 years old under investigation, now police traveling from the Bahamas all the way to California. Tonight, under questioning, the personal doctors of Daniel Smith, son of cover girl Anna Nicole Smith.
Back to Virgie Arthur. This is Anna Nicole Smith`s mom, the grandmother of Daniel. Tell me about Daniel as a child. What was he like?
ARTHUR: Oh, he was precious. He was curious. He always wanted to know. He always asked "what if." He was a good boy. He was just a blessing.
GRACE: What if what?
ARTHUR: What if this happened, Mema (ph)? What would we do? What if this happened, Mema? What would we do then? What if this happened, Mema?
GRACE: We`re showing shots right now of Daniel growing up. In his system at the time of his death, seven times the amount of antidepressants Lexapro, six times Zoloft, and an unusual combination with methadone.
Out to Daniel Spitz, Dr. Daniel Spitz, and also medical examiner and forensic pathologist. You know, methadone is actually very hard to get. I mean, you can go to practically any street corner and find some crack, some cocaine, some heroin, some pot, easy. But methadone?
DR. DANIEL SPITZ, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, you know, it`s not as hard as you may think. It`s becoming a drug that is more routinely being abused and being sold on the street. It`s more of a drug that you can get as a prescription for heroin addiction and for chronic pain problems. But because it`s being used for chronic pain, it is making its way out onto the street to be sold to people who aren`t supposed to be taking it.
GRACE: Well, I got to tell you, Dr. Spitz, in my practice of criminal law, I prosecuted a lot of methamphetamine, heroin, crack, cocaine, pot, steroids, special K, you name it. I don`t recall ever getting somebody high on methadone, all right?
SPITZ: Well, methadone is a prescription drug, so it`s -- it`s not like the illegal drugs, but it is making its way onto the street, like Hydrocodone and Oxycodone. These drugs are commonly used for treatment of certain ailments and certain chronic pain, but they are often abused by people who shouldn`t be taking them.
GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Joining us tonight, special guest, the mother of Anna Nicole Smith, famous cover girl, and grandmother of her son, 20-year-old Daniel Smith. His death, his sudden and unexpected death there in a Bahaman hospital, tonight under investigation.
Let`s go out to the lines. Mary in Wisconsin, Hi, Mary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering if you thought -- if you think that Anna Nicole and Howard K. Stern may have gotten married to avoid testifying against each other, you know, pleading the, you know, don`t have to testify against your spouse?
GRACE: Well, you know what? That`s actually a very good question, you little legal eagle, you. Number one, what their motivations were, I don`t know. Maybe they truly are in love and they discovered it after all these years. If they thought that this marriage would preclude testimony against each other, ix-nay. This was not a legal marriage. This is more the variety where you go out on a cliff with a witch doctor or a guru that throws herbs on you and you`re suddenly married. This is not a legal marriage under the eyes of the law. So I doubt very seriously that if they ever were called to testify, that this would preclude that testimony under husband/wife privilege.
But now speaking of Mary`s question, let`s unchain the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Renee Rockwell out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, and Michael Cardoza out of the California jurisdiction.
First to you, Michael Cardoza. Husband-and-wife privilege, will it work if there`s not a legal marriage?
MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. It won`t work at all because that`s exactly what you said. I mean, You were rather histrionic about it, you know, the sprinkling of the witch doctor...
GRACE: I didn`t ask you that! Keep going!
CARDOZA: No, Nancy...
GRACE: Be responsive to the question, Mr. Cardoza.
CARDOZA: Nancy, be nice now. Now, would it count? No, it wouldn`t count. No. Absolutely not. You got to be legally married. That`s not a legal marriage.
GRACE: But long story short, Renee Rockwell, you would have to credit them with the pre-planning to marry as they did, out on a catamaran out there in the Bahamas, with the intent to avoid testifying. I don`t see it.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it was just a commitment, I think, before God. Don`t forget they can get married next week before anybody is put on the witness stand, and then she should or he should claim a marital privilege.
GRACE: Would that privilege date back pre-wedding?
ROCKWELL: I think that anybody...
GRACE: Because I don`t think so.
ROCKWELL: No, I think -- I disagree with you, Nancy, because you could say, I`m not testifying against my husband, I`m not testifying against my wife.
GRACE: No. Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!~
ROCKWELL: I don`t think a prosecutor could make you do that.
GRACE: Uh-huh. Because those -- the communications that are protected are those that were during the marriage.
ROCKWELL: I`m not talking about the communications...
CARDOZA: Nancy...
ROCKWELL: ... I`m talking about the testimony.
GRACE: Right. The testimony that could be precluded is regarding that -- that was exchanged during the marriage. Michael?
CARDOZA: Nancy, think about this. If they`re going to testify against each other, they certainly, you know, would do that. I mean, to go through the sham of, Let`s go do a commitment-type marriage, which really isn`t a marriage, certainly doesn`t speak to they`re looking for a marital privilege. I mean, if they wanted to say something against each other, they could do it. And I`m sure they`re not going to go get married. I tell you what...
GRACE: Yes, I agree with you.
CARDOZA: I feel like I`ve fallen through the looking glass on this case.
GRACE: No, I agree with you. I don`t buy they went and got married to avoid testimony.
CARDOZA: No, there`s no way they did that. But Nancy, does this strike you as really strange? I mean, here`s the grandmother coming on, and out of whole cloth saying, Gosh, there were three people in the room and two walk out, and I think there must have been murder.
GRACE: Well, Michael...
CARDOZA: Boy, this is, like, very strange. What, we`re just guessing now? Gee, maybe it happened? I think this is really wrong. I think it`s appalling for her to say things like that without having evidence.
GRACE: Michael, correction. You said the same thing about Scott Peterson. All right, let me...
CARDOZA: No, I did not, Nancy.
GRACE: Yes, you did.
CARDOZA: No, I did not, Nancy.
GRACE: I want to go back to Dan Wakeford, executive editor of "In Touch Weekly." Dan, again, thank you for being with us. And also speaking tonight, Daniel Smith`s grandmother is speaking out for the first time. You know, I noticed in the article, on the front of your magazine this week, it says, "Was it murder?"
You also say in here on page 21, "Howard Stern gave us a much different account of what happened when Daniel died than the story he told on `Larry King,` says a Bahaman official." What were the differences in what he told the officials and what he told Larry King?
WAKEFORD: Basically, the officials are saying that he`s basically saying a completely different story. He wouldn`t -- the officials wouldn`t tell us the actual specifics, but it was completely different.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was only on September 10 when Anna Nicole Smith`s son, Daniel, suddenly died in a hospital room in the Bahamas, launching endless media coverage of that mysterious death. Even though an autopsy funded by Daniel`s family found that Daniel died suddenly of a combination of methadone and two antidepressants, police in the Bahamas, where the death occurred, are still looking for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just as if a death occurred in the U.S. but somebody had traveled outside the U.S., American investigators would have to travel to get answers, so, too, Bahamian investigators have to travel to the U.S. to get answers to the questions in this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, the sudden and unexpected death of a young man, 20 years old, there in the hospital with his mom, his new baby sister and the mom`s lawyer, under investigation, Bahamian authorities traveling all the way from the Bahamas to California to question Daniel Smith`s, son of cover girl Anna Nicole, personal doctors. Apparently, in his bloodstream, levels up to seven times that expected of Lexapro and Zoloft, both antidepressants, and pain killer methadone.
Welcome back. Tonight, speaking out for the first primetime exclusive, the grandmother of young Daniel, the mother of cover girl Anna Nicole Smith, a 28-year law enforcement veteran, Virgie Arthur.
Ms. Arthur, did Anna Nicole Smith ever call you to tell you Daniel had passed away?
ARTHUR: Yes, she did. She called but you couldn`t understand anything she said because you could tell she was clearly under some kind of -- of drug because she was very upset. She was mumbling like a drunk does. You know, all I got out of it was that Daniel`s dead. And then it -- you know, it was like she was in the middle of a sentence and the phone hung up. And that`s all I got to hear from her.
GRACE: Do you know Mr. Stern, her lawyer, Howard Stern?
ARTHUR: No, I don`t. I do not know him.
GRACE: What have you been able to learn about the boy`s death?
ARTHUR: Not a whole lot because after she talked to me that one time, I`ve not been able to talk to her at all. She called the one time and she said, Mama, Danny`s dead. That`s all I got out of her. But it was a long rumbling (ph) of something. You couldn`t understand a word, and then just, Mama, Danny`s dead.
GRACE: Ms. Arthur, how long -- where were you a cop? And is it correct that it was for 28 years?
ARTHUR: Yes. In Harris County, in Houston, Texas.
GRACE: So you`re no stranger to criminal investigations. What strikes you as odd about Daniel`s death?
ARTHUR: That he died in a hospital, to start with, people coming in and out, and that there were two other people in that room with him. Somebody should have noticed something. Where -- you know, what was his -- he slept through the whole thing? When you overdose, usually you have some sort of convulsion. It just depends. But I -- how long ago was it that Danny was tested at the normal hospital where he went to have check-ups? Was his blood tested there? Did he have -- did he show anything in his blood there?
GRACE: Have you tried to get answers from Anna Nicole Smith or Howard Stern?
ARTHUR: Yes. They changed the phone number that they gave me when they first called.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Howard K. Stern and Daniel -- Howard was like a father at times, a brother at times and a great friend at times. Anna was in the room, Daniel slept next to Anna in the same bed, and Howard slept in a bed next to Daniel and Anna. I mean, it`s absolutely ludicrous to suggest a third person did something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, contrary to that theory, apparently, Bahaman officials are in California, questioning the personal doctors of Daniel Smith, the son of cover girl, the beautiful Anna Nicole Smith. And joining us tonight, her mother, Daniel`s grandmother, Virgie Arthur, a 27-year veteran of the Houston police force.
Out to Art Harris, investigative reporter. Art, let me get it straight. So Daniel Smith comes into the hospital room, stays there for a number of hours. He`s never observed taking any type of medication, and then suddenly dies while they`re all asleep? Is that the way it went down?
ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: That`s supposedly the way it happened, Nancy. And we`ve heard about the Lexapro and the Zoloft in his system. And pharmacologists I`ve talked to have said that with methadone, it would tend to make it absorb more slowly, so therefore, making it much stronger to his system. And the question is, Why was he taking these drugs? That`s one of the things the Bahamian investigators want to know. What were his movements? Who were his friends in the days before he did this? And maybe they`ll get some answers, Nancy.
GRACE: Back to Virgie Arthur. This is Anna Nicole Smith`s mother. I`m reading this article here in "In Touch," "Was it murder?" And you also state you`re furious over the commitment ceremony they had, the wedding. Why?
ARTHUR: Why? Well, I`m happy that they had the baby and I`m thrilled to be a grandmother again, but I`m very upset that my grandson is still laying in a cold room and hasn`t been buried yet. The last bit of respect you get in this world is at a funeral, and my baby`s not had one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CYRIL WECHT, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: We knew about Lexapro, Larry, as you will recall, from the first battery of tests performed on the specimen submitted, taken during resuscitation at the doctor`s hospital, so that came as no surprise. Methadone and Zoloft come as a big surprise to Anna Nicole, to Howard Stern, to the attorneys, to everybody.
And at this point, I do not know the source. I do not know which physicians prescribed these drugs, when, and for what conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Seven times the expected limit of antidepressants Lexapro, Zoloft, including methadone. Highly unusual to find methadone, a cure for the addiction to heroin, in a 20-year-old young man, the son of cover girl Anna Nicole Smith, tonight under investigation.
Out to Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, Bethany, I get the theory -- tonight with us, Anna Nicole`s mother is speaking out. She believes this may have been a murder. I understand the theory. It`s highly unusual. The death was sudden and expected. But murder? I find that really hard to believe.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, what`s interesting is she`s saying it might be murder, but she`s not really giving us any theory as to why. And that`s what I would want to know: What`s the back story? What`s her suspicion?
One of the things she may feel resentful about is that Anna Nicole doesn`t seem to be very bonded either with her, even though she helped raise the grandchild, or with her own son. I mean, as Ms. Arthur pointed out, he`s been lying in a comatose -- I mean, he`s been in the morgue for four weeks now, and she went off and got married, which is a sign really of not being bonded with him and being concerned about all the wrong things, restoring herself in the eyes of the community as like a potential wife and good mother, instead of burying her own child.
GRACE: Interesting. To Virgie Arthur -- this is Anna Nicole Smith`s mother, Daniel`s grandmother -- Virgie, what is your theory? I know, if you believe this is a murder, you`ve got to believe there was a motive.
ARTHUR: Danny wouldn`t take drugs to start with. I don`t believe that for a minute. You could not convince me of that.
And he was -- you know, married that billionaire, Howard Hughes -- I mean, Howard Marshall. He was a great man.
GRACE: Marshall.
ARTHUR: Yes, Marshall. He was a very great man. I met him several times. And he told me, you know, that he would take care of Vickie and Daniel. I would never have to worry about them, ever, that he would make sure that they were taken care of.
And I know that Danny had a trust fund. I don`t know if he still has it or if they -- I don`t know what happened. But he did have a trust fund. But if Howard marries Vickie and Daniel`s gone, that leaves Howard and the baby, to inherit whatever money she has.
GRACE: But on the other hand, though -- and I have always, from the very get-go, Ms. Arthur, supported Anna Nicole Smith`s right to her billionaire husband`s money, whether anybody likes Anna Nicole Smith, whether they think she`s a cover girl, a great beauty, or a tramp, he married her. And she is just like every other wife under the eyes of the law and her due is his estate, end of story. I don`t care what her character is or what her perceived morality is. Doesn`t matter under the eyes of the law.
In keeping, you mentioned Daniel`s truth fund as a possible motive, she just got a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. It looks like she`s going to get Marshall`s money, so that suddenly makes that trust fund of Daniel`s not so much of a motive anymore.
ARTHUR: No, but now, if Howard Stern marries her and she ends up dead, then who does the money go?
GRACE: Oh, I see, Howard Stern.
ARTHUR: Danny`s not here.
GRACE: I see, Howard Stern.
Let`s go out to the lawyer, Michael Cardoza, Renee Rockwell, from two sides of the country, both veteran trial lawyers. To Renee Rockwell, we`ve seen many a case where money is a motive, but very often it`s something even much less significant.
ROCKWELL: Nancy, but not everything, not every death is a crime, OK? This could have been an accident. And I`ve said all along, it could be that, if someone gratuitously gave him some methadone, this, too, could be investigated and could potentially be prosecuted.
GRACE: You mean, just by handing him a tablet?
ROCKWELL: Could be prosecuted, Nancy.
GRACE: Under the theory?
ROCKWELL: That it was an illegal transaction, to give a non- prescribed drug to somebody that resulted in somebody`s death.
GRACE: So you`re saying, like a felony murder, if she were to give him a methadone pill -- I assume it comes in pill and liquid form -- if she were to give him methadone, and he took it, and he had already taken antidepressant Zoloft or Lexapro, Michael Cardoza, under what theory of law -- would that work as a prosecution, like a felony murder?
CARDOZA: All right. I`ll play D.A. for you. Under second-degree murder, wanton and willful disregard for human life. You know he`s on Zoloft. You know he`s on other medications. You give him the methadone, which I know here in California it`s about as easy to get as heroin. You give him that, knowing that?
As I say, it`s wanton and willful disregard. You can get prosecuted for second-degree murder. And in this case, for the grandmother to say -- and I`ll tell you, I had to laugh at this -- "Oh, he would never take drugs, he wouldn`t do this. He wouldn`t take his own life."
I`ll tell you, you and I have both prosecuted before. How many mothers of people that have committed murders say, "My son wouldn`t do something like that"? When in fact you`ve got moving pictures, confessions of it. So when I hear that, that rings hollow to me, because she`s not with him. Daniel was a grown man. He could have been into drugs. He`s not going to tell grandma about it. You know, we don`t know what happened here.
GRACE: OK, Michael, you`ve made your point, you`ve made your point.
CARDOZA: Good enough then.
GRACE: And I do actually agree with you on that point. Moms always come into court, grandmoms always come into court, they never think their boy has done anything wrong. But, in this case, what the argument would be -- back out to Dan Wakeford, executive editor of "InTouch Weekly," who has run this article, "Was It Murder?"
What this article is pointing to is Anna Nicole Smith or Howard Stern giving him a methadone pill, with or without malice, and in conjunction with Zoloft or Lexapro it added to his death. Is that the theory? I`m trying to nail this down, because I`m really not buying it.
WAKEFORD: That`s not necessarily the theory at all. Daniel could have gotten the drug in a lot of different ways. He could have brought it through on the plane from California. It`s very unlikely...
GRACE: Uh-huh. No, no, no, no, no, no, Mr. Wakeford, because in your article it says there`s three people in the room. Was it murder? One of them`s dead, all right, so that`s certainly not a murder according with him as the perp. It would be a suicide. You said was it murder? That only leaves Anna Nicole Smith and Howard Stern, and I just don`t see it.
WAKEFORD: Well, we`re not saying that it is murder. We`ve got -- Virgie said that she thinks it`s murder, and we`ve got one of the officials who are investigating this saying that it wasn`t an accident. That is the evidence that we have at this moment.
GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Donna in South Carolina. Hi, Donna.
CALLER: Hey, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
CALLER: Well, I`m wondering, with the extreme level of drugs that Daniel had in his system, and, you know, leaving on such a late flight the night before, has anyone, you know, speculated as far as his condition, you know, before he boarded the plane? And, you know, where would he get the methadone with only three people in the room?
GRACE: She`s got a really good point, Art Harris. You were mentioning they were investigating who was on the plane with him. You just think some unknown, casual stranger in the next seat would go, "Hey, you want some methadone? You can go shoot up in the bathroom." I don`t buy it.
HARRIS: Not necessarily that, Nancy, but they want to know who he was associating with in the days and weeks before this trip. They`re talking to the doctors and other friends. So, you know, you never know, but stranger things have happened.
GRACE: I want to go back to Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole`s mother and Daniel`s grandmother. All the theory aside about murder, was it murder or not murder, would you travel and go to a funeral for your grandson?
ARTHUR: Yes, I would. And Daniel didn`t take drugs. If he wanted to take drugs, he could have taken all his mother had the whole time she was in -- well, since she`s been a model. She`s taken all kinds of drugs.
GRACE: Do you know why investigators are questioning his personal doctors? Are they asking -- did they give him methadone?
ARTHUR: Well, I hope they are checking. They need to check and see if he was on anything. But as far as I know, he was never on anything. And if he wanted to be, in his teenage years, he could have -- he had a whole assortment of drugs he could have gotten from his mother, because...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, you know, back to what`s happening with the lawyer. It is simple Trial 101, attorney-client privilege. Back out to Renee Rockwell. The Bahamian attorney has now quit the case and stated openly, Renee, that he doesn`t like the way she conducted a commercial activity. And why is he speaking? That is totally in violation of attorney-client privilege.
ROCKWELL: I don`t know what the laws are in the Bahamas, but in Georgia, at least, Nancy, I can tell you that all you have to do is tell the court you want to withdraw. You are not to talk about why, because you could potentially be violating an attorney-client privilege.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WECHT: They are both drugs that are perfectly licit, legal. These are drugs that can be obtained through prescriptions. Why they would have been prescribed, I do not know. When he got them and exactly when he took them, these are things we`re still tracing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Before we take you to Vermont and the story of a missing 21- year-old coed, back to the story regarding Anna Nicole Smith`s young son sudden and unexpected death now under investigation. Out to Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole`s mother.
Are you concerned at all that your statements or your theory is going to put a wedge between you and Anna Nicole Smith that can never, ever be healed?
ARTHUR: I don`t know. It depends on her, I guess. Howard is out there, and, you know, it seems like he`s controlling her life.
GRACE: Why do you say that?
ARTHUR: So I don`t know. Because he doesn`t allow us to talk to her. You know, he changed the phone numbers. Nobody in the family is allowed to talk -- she has family. She has a lot of family.
GRACE: I mean, you`re Anna Nicole Smith`s mother. You`re Daniel`s grandmother. Let`s go out to the lines. Liz, who`s our caller? Brenda in Indiana, hi, Brenda.
CALLER: Hi. My mother and I love your show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: I want to know, is there a problem between Anna Nicole and her mother? Because, to me, this sounds like a vindictive way of her getting even with her about something.
GRACE: Well, I don`t know. I don`t know that I`m buying into Virgie`s theory of murder, but I`ll let her answer that other question.
Ms. Arthur, do you want to respond to Brenda in Indiana?
ARTHUR: OK. The only animosity we had between us was Daniel. I raised him until he was like six years old. And I called over to her house one day and I asked her -- I said, "Vickie, let me talk to Danny right quick." And she said, "Mother, why do you want to Daniel?" I said, "I want to tell him about the new Ninja Turtle movie that came out, because there`s a new one, and I want him and me to go see it." And she said, "He is just your grandson. I am your daughter. I am. You need to talk to me first." I said, "Well, OK, will you tell Danny then that there`s a new Ninja Turtle movie coming out and then meanwhile come get him, pick him up, take him?"
So we`ve always had that. And one time -- I took him to the Ninja Turtle movie, and we went to the barber shop, and I cut his hair because it was too long. And when I came home and brought him home, she yelled at me because I had cut his hair. She said, "You don`t cut his hair." I said, "I`ve always cut his hair. It`s too long, and I cut it." She said, "I don`t want it cut."
GRACE: How long did you raise him?
ARTHUR: He was 6 years old whenever she moved in. She was seeing Howard Marshall at the time, and he had bought her a house and got her a nanny to take care of Daniel. And so I asked him, I said, "Do you want to go live with your mom?" You know, and he says, "Yes, I want to go live with her." I said, "OK, and if you don`t like it, then you can come back and live with Meema," and he said, "OK." So that`s how we left it, and that`s how it ended up.
GRACE: Ms. Arthur, I know -- you haven`t told me this, but I know you still love Anna Nicole. I know you do.
ARTHUR: Yes, I do...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I can tell. Even though you`re concerned about the death of Daniel, I can see that you -- what would you say to her tonight if you could speak to her?
ARTHUR: Vickie Lynn, you know I love you, always have. And be very careful about who you hang around with, because you may be next.
GRACE: Tonight with us, Virgie Arthur. This is Anna Nicole Smith`s mother, very distraught about the death of her grandson, Daniel. Ms. Arthur, we sure are sorry, and I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
ARTHUR: Thank you for having me.
GRACE: Right now, we are switching gears, like every good trial lawyer has to do, and heading to Vermont in the case of a missing 21-year- old coed. Maybe we can help. Liz, could you roll that, please?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police held a press conference to underscore their concern about the disappearance of 21-year-old Michelle Gardner- Quinn. She was last seen on Main Street near the Edmonds School at 2:15 Saturday morning after a night of socializing with her college friends. The Virginia resident was scheduled to meet with her parents Saturday for dinner. When she didn`t show up, they called the police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s go straight out to a reporter with the "Burlington Free Press," Adam Silverman. Adam, grainy photos emerging of this young girl walking along with a guy, apparently using his cell phone. What have we learned from those photos?
ADAM SILVERMAN, REPORTER, "BURLINGTON FREE PRESS": Good evening, Nancy. What we know from the police today is that the man in those images lent his cell phone to Michelle at her request when she was trying to find some friends and then accompanied her as they walked a little ways outside of downtown up toward the university. And that man has now become -- and I`m quoting from the police chief -- "a significant focus of our investigation." However, they`re not calling him a suspect and say that, at this time, they do not have evidence that supports a criminal charge.
GRACE: Have they searched his home?
SILVERMAN: They have searched a home in Richmond, Vermont, which they say that man who loaned the cell phone is connected to, but they`re not saying how.
GRACE: OK. Joining us also tonight is a very special guest, Michelle`s half-sister, Yasmine Rassam.
Ma`am, thank you for being with us. I know you`re working out in the forefront trying to help find your sister. Tell us what you can.
YASMINE RASSAM, HALF-SISTER OF MICHELLE GARDNER-QUINN: Well, I`m here primarily, of course, to support my family, to be with them during these hard times. I`m working with my mother and my father and my brother. We`re working with the police. We`re working doing the searches that are canvassing hundreds of miles of this Vermont area, looking for any clues leading to my sister`s disappearance.
And we are waiting every day to hear news. And as you know, today this surveillance tape came out, and we would implore anybody that has any idea who might have seen those two walking together to please call the Burlington police. It might shake their memory a bit, because there were a lot of people out on the street that night.
GRACE: A very dear friend of Michelle`s, Kevin Lloyd, is with us. What can you tell us about her, Kevin?
KEVIN LLOYD, FRIEND OF MICHELLE GARDNER-QUINN: Hi, Nancy. She and I spent the summer together working at a national park, and we both lived in the park. And we made not very much money, of course, so we had to -- we worked together to pool our resources, and we cooked a lot of food together. And Michelle taught me a lot. And I learned a lot from her this summer, and I`m just really grateful to have been her friend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Newly discovered video has emerged in the search for Michelle Gardner-Quinn, a 20-year-old coed gone missing in Vermont. That tip line: 802-658-2700.
Joining us, police officer, former fed, Mike Brooks. What do you perceive about the investigation expanding tonight, Mike?
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: Well, Nancy, I tell you, this video is a big enhancement for the case. It helps close the time line up a little bit, and they have now put a face with this person. They know who he is. They`ve searched something that is involved with him. My sources are telling me it was his house. They don`t say if they got anything of evidentiary value, but police are still saying that no evidence suggests a criminal offense.
GRACE: What? No evidence suggests a criminal offense?
BROOKS: That`s what the police are saying. I don`t agree with that, either, but at least they`re not telling us. They`re holding this very close to the vest, Nancy.
But hopefully they`ll be able to enhance this video a little bit more. And they`re putting it out there so citizens can hopefully see, "Oh, wait a minute, that`s me in this video. You know what? I remember a guy walking and a woman walking behind me. And you know what? They didn`t split up." That`s what they`re hoping to glean, some additional intelligence from these people who are taking a look at this and going, "Oh, yes, that was me in that."
So, you know, they need to go to the Burlington police Web site, see if they`re on there, and see if they can add anything to this case, because they need their help.
GRACE: Mike Brooks joining us, former D.C. cop and former fed. And very quickly, back to Michelle`s half-sister, Yasmine, did you ever know her to be gone this long without calling home?
RASSAM: No, she`s the most responsible person ever. She always calls, text messages. You know, we`re very close, and she`s close to our parents. And she couldn`t have ever -- she wanted to come to this university. She was very happy. She was so excited that my parents were here. There`s just absolutely no way that she would disappear like this.
GRACE: Tonight, joining us is the sister of Michelle asking for your help.
And also tonight, we stop to remember Army Sergeant Adam Knox, 21, Columbus, Ohio. Joined straight out of high school, American hero, Adam Knocks.
Thank you to all of our guests. And a big good night tonight from our guest from Georgia, Susan, Claire, D., Michael, and, from L.A., Brian Godinsky (ph) saying good night.
NANCY GRACE signing off for tonight. See you tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend.
END
