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Nancy Grace

Report Says Anna Nicole Death From Sleeping Meds and Infection

Aired March 23, 2007 - 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, breaking news leaked. Has the tightly- guarded cause of death in the sudden collapse of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith been surreptitiously released? According to reports, the 39-year-old model died with a toxic level of sleeping medication, chloral hydrate, and a raging blood infection so serious, it was deadly. Reports also claim the infection was caused by use of an unsterilized hypodermic needle. what was in that mystery needle? Who injected her?
And tonight, the clock ticking down as experts analyze DNA of 6-month- old Dannielynn, Smith`s only descendant, to determine who is the baby`s biological father, set to control the baby`s estate topping $475 million.

And tonight: Florida officials stunned after a toddler tests positive for cocaine. Where? At a church-run day care. Tonight: What is to become of the 18-month-old little girl?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 18-month-old baby girl was just fine when her mom dropped her off at the Promise Land preschool in Mandarin. But later, a relative noticed the baby was acting strangely. Police reports say when the mother picked the child up, she was not as active as usual, walked only on her tiptoes and was bobbling and staggering. The child would not eat or allow parents to examine her ears or head. According to police, the parents then took the baby here, to Wolfson (ph) Children`s Hospital, and then she tested positive for cocaine. Police say both parents took a drug test and came up clean.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ll talk to people who know the child, people who know the family, neighbors. Our chief priority is the safety of the child. We want to be as thorough as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.

First -- leaked. Has the cause of death of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith, so tightly guarded by the Florida medical examiner, been surreptitiously released?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just three days away from knowing what killed Anna Nicole Smith. A leak in the autopsy report is revealing some shocking details on the cause of death. There are a couple of tabloids basically reporting that, yes, it was an overdose that killed her, but that`s really just the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not methadone, as many people had suspected it would be. The publications "The Star" and "The National Enquirer" are reporting that she died of toxic levels of chloral hydrate, which, if taken in -- (INAUDIBLE) toxic and kill you. It can cause a person to become disoriented, incoherent, causes slurring of speech, staggering. These are all really behaviors that We`ve seen Anna Nicole demonstrate in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her body tissue was bloated with methadone. We`re waiting to get the exact milligram count. But we also heard and related, though, to the Demerol that police investigating, looking into whether or not 75 milligrams of Demerol were injected into her prior to her death -- in fact, two minutes before her death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But there are a number of questions. One, where did she get the medication? There was a list of medications that her personal psychiatrist had requested. Many of them were sedatives. But on the list, chloral hydrate was not one of them. So the question is, Where did she get it? Who administered it to her? Was she under a doctor`s care?

We know that Howard Stern was the single person that was with her and with Daniel at the time of both of their deaths, or he was certainly with her in the same city. We don`t know if he`s involved at all, if medication went to him under his name, how she got it. But again, it`s very disturbing. And this is a leak in a report that`s going to be issued on Monday.

HOWARD K. STERN, ANNA NICOLE`S ATTORNEY/COMPANION: Anna -- in a lot of ways, I always thought she was going to die young. She said that she thought that she was going to be like Marilyn Monroe. So she thought she was going to die when -- I forget if the age is 36 or 37. Anna also thought she was going to die when she was giving birth to Dannielynn. So Anna did talk about death. She talked about death, really, from the time that I met her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, there is breaking news leaked. Has the tightly- guarded cause of death in the sudden collapse of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith been leaked?

Out to David Caplan, the deputy New York bureau chief of "Star." What, according to you, is the cause of death?

DAVID CAPLAN, "STAR": An overdose of chloral hydrate, which is a sleeping medication. Toxic levels were found in Anna Nicole Smith`s body, and that was the cause of death.

GRACE: Chloral hydrate -- very, very unusual. Out to you, Dr. William Morrone, joining us. Doctor, that is a very old-school medication. Now you have...

DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER/TOXICOLOGIST: Yes, it is.

GRACE: ... your Ambiens and your Lunestas. Why chloral hydrate? What is it?

MORRONE: Chloral hydrate is a non-benzodiazepam (ph) type sedative hypnotic that`s been used for short-term insomnia. It`s popular because it`s in a drinkable form and it`s easy to administer, and it`s easy to give to children, and it`s used to sedate children for diagnostics or prior to surgery, but it`s just as deadly if it`s misused.

GRACE: Back to you, David Caplan, bureau chief of New York, of "Star." David, let`s go through the timeline. There`s a lot of confusing...

CAPLAN: Exactly.

GRACE: ... suggestions in your theory just released. First of all, how did you get it? Is this leaked from the Broward County medical examiner`s office?

CAPLAN: We`re not going to divulge the sources, but they`re sources with knowledge of the investigation.

GRACE: Well, I can say, after reading many, many autopsy reports and medical examiner reports, it sounds as if you have lifted medical and toxicological results straight out of a report.

CAPLAN: Yes. We did our homework, and these are the results.

GRACE: Did your homework? Did your homework? Translation -- paid somebody inside the medical examiner`s to get the report?

CAPLAN: No.

GRACE: OK, let`s talk about the cause of death, according to reports. You`re saying chloral hydrate, an old-school sleeping medication. But you also mention a dirty needle. Explain.

CAPLAN: Yes. Initially, what happened was, when Anna Nicole left on Monday of that week -- and let`s remember that she was pronounced dead on Thursday. On Monday, as she was boarding the plane to go to Miami from the Bahamas, she had an abscess in her left buttock. And it began to get larger and larger and more painful.

GRACE: OK, wa-wa-wa-wa-wait. Let`s just take it back a notch. An abscess in her left buttock, on the left side of her rear end. An infection from what?

CAPLAN: From a needle, and it was a non-sterile needle.

GRACE: A needle, OK. She`s giving herself a shot in the rear. That would suggest somebody else gave her the shot. She could inject into her own leg, stomach or arm. Who gave her the shot?

CAPLAN: Right now, we don`t know. We`re still investigating the who. We have the results of what was in her body. We`re not going to point fingers right now.

GRACE: OK, you got a dirty hypodermic needle. And you say it was injected when?

CAPLAN: On Monday. This is when -- on Monday, it happened. And then on Monday, as she was boarding the plane, this is when it developed. It got bigger and bigger.

GRACE: OK, what time did she board the plane?

CAPLAN: I think it was in the morning on Monday.

GRACE: And when do you believe the injection took place?

CAPLAN: We believe within a short period, within a day of that, because the infection -- it takes (INAUDIBLE) pretty quickly if you`re using a dirty needle.

GRACE: Do you have a theory as to what was in the needle?

CAPLAN: I`d rather not speculate on that.

GRACE: Do you have a theory you`re not releasing?

CAPLAN: Next week, we`ll have more findings to the story.

GRACE: Do you have a theory as to who injected her?

CAPLAN: There`s a lot of speculation, but I don`t want to point fingers right now.

GRACE: OK, but do you have a theory?

CAPLAN: There`s lots of theories out there. There`s people around her. Obviously, it`s not that easy to inject a needle into your own buttocks, so it`s likely you had the help of someone.

GRACE: But you`re saying, David Caplan with "Star" magazine, that it wasn`t what was in the needle that was the problem, it was the needle itself.

CAPLAN: Correct. It was the needle. It was dirty. It was not sterile, so that created the infection. The abscess in her left buttocks got bigger and bigger and it got dirtier. It created an infection, a blood infection. Unbeknownst to Anna Nicole, she had a blood infection. This was on Monday. Then by the time she arrived...

GRACE: OK, hold on right there. Right there. Back to Dr. William Morrone, medical examiner and toxicologist. Dr. Morrone, abscess -- explain.

MORRONE: An abscess is a large acute accumulation of white blood cells to fight an infection under the skin that causes a pocket and pressure, and it`s painful. And after an infection -- well, before the infection, you`d have to see that you get antibiotics, and then sometimes the case, if it`s recognized in a hospital, it`s treated with something called incision and drainage.

GRACE: OK, so...

MORRONE: So you drain out the dirty -- go ahead.

GRACE: It`s fluid, Dr. Morrone?

MORRONE: Yes. The pocket of fluid creates pressure and pain, and it`s caused by an infection.

GRACE: Now, does this spread? Does it get into your blood system?

MORRONE: If it gets in your blood system, you are vulnerable to a condition called sepsis. Sepsis can throw off your blood pressure, your heart rate. It can throw you into extremely high fevers and make you very unstable.

GRACE: OK, back to you, David Caplan. Continue.

CAPLAN: So Anna arrives in Miami on Monday, at the Hollywood -- at the hotel of the Hard Rock in Hollywood. She then has a fever of 105.

GRACE: Whew!

CAPLAN: And this fever is brought in by the blood infection. Unbeknownst to Anna, though, she has this infection, which she does not know. She then has diarrhea. She has this fever. She feels...

GRACE: Well, wait. If she`s got a fever of 105 and a swollen abscess at the point of a hypodermic injection, certainly she knows she`s ill.

CAPLAN: Absolutely. She knew she was ill, but she refused to go to the hospital, and the people around her agreed to that.

GRACE: She refused!

CAPLAN: Absolutely.

GRACE: She refused! Hold on just a moment. She refused!

Let`s go out to Don Clark. He is representing Virgie Arthur. He has been down in the Bahamas. He`s the former head of the Houston FBI unit. According to Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith`s mother, she was being enabled by all the people around her. Do you really believe that she refused to go to the hospital because of paparazzi?

DON CLARK, REPRESENTATIVE OF VIRGIE ARTHUR: Nancy, I have to tell you, I think that`s a despicable statement, to say she refused. I mean, everybody knows that`s been following this case that for a long period of time there, she hadn`t really had control over what`s going on around her. And I really think what ought to take place here now, Nancy, is not one investigation but several investigations.

Number one, there ought to be an investigation on the leak. It`s inexcusable for this coroner`s office to allow this information to leak out of there. And secondly...

GRACE: Well, hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: We don`t know the coroner -- hold on! I`m going to defend Dr. Joshua Perper. He`s been tight-lipped and very security-minded from the get-go. I don`t think Dr. Perper allowed it to be leaked.

CLARK: I don`t know who allowed it to be leaked, but whoever allowed it to be leaked, let`s face it, the decision came out -- the information came out of the coroner`s office. It had to get a genesis from someplace, and maybe it was (INAUDIBLE) somewhere. But whoever did -- I`m not pointing the finger at Dr. Perper, per se. But whoever did it ought to be dealt with.

And secondly, there has to be an investigation into how this woman died, this overdose of drugs. And she did it? I don`t think so.

GRACE: Well, what I`m saying is not -- David Caplan isn`t making this theory up, people. He`s getting this from a source. And what I`m asking you, Don Clark -- you said that Caplan is despicable for announcing such a thing. But that`s what his source is telling him. What I`m asking you is, according to your client, Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith was high on all kind of drugs. I find it hard to believe that her lying there -- according to reports, she didn`t wake up the whole day on Thursday, the day that she died. She was in bed, never woke up, and they notice at 2:49, 3:00 o`clock in the afternoon, Hey, Anna Nicole Smith hasn`t moved all day? I`ve got a problem with them saying -- a source saying she refused to go to the doctor. She was out of her mind, Don Clark!

CLARK: Well, I agree with you. And I want to clear up. I`m not saying Caplan is responsible for this leak in this thing. I`m not saying that at all. But I don`t think Anna had anything to do with making decisions about what happened to her. And I don`t think she was the one that made the decision, I`m not going to go to the hospital. The woman had a 105-degree temperature. She couldn`t do anything but basically lay there. So someone else, her caretakers, should have made that decision.

GRACE: Lay there, lay there, David Caplan, and let people live off of her, like vampires! Go ahead with the timeline, Caplan.

CAPLAN: So with the timeline -- so we have -- so we hear from our sources she refused to go to the hospital. And the people around her then, to quell sort of the fever, put her in an ice bath to get rid of -- to attempt to put down the fever. They also provided her with an over-the- counter flu medication, as well as an antibiotic. That was sort of their way of countering all her situation.

This goes over Tuesday and Wednesday. She`s in bed all day. Then we get to Wednesday night. And keep in mind, during this whole time, the blood infection is getting worse. And just as an aside to this, we also spoke to doctors who said even though it was the drugs, essentially, that killed her, had that blood virus continued on unchecked, that would have been the cause of death.

But we go to Wednesday night. And then Wednesday evening, early Thursday, that is when she ingests the sleeping medicine, and then she doesn`t wake up on Thursday.

GRACE: She took a lethal amount, according to what you`re reporting, of chloral hydrate, a lethal amount of sleeping medication. Why do you believe it was a lethal amount, David Caplan?

CAPLAN: Sources tell us the levels, the toxins in her body from the sleeping medication were extremely high and well above the norm.

GRACE: So let me get this straight. The whole day Thursday, she never got out of bed? She never woke up?

CAPLAN: Correct.

GRACE: And nobody noticed until almost 3:00 PM.

CAPLAN: It doesn`t seem so. They thought she was sleeping.

GRACE: Let`s go to the lines. Debbie in Canada. Hi, Debbie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. My question is, I want to know, with all the talking that everybody`s been doing, where is the bodyguard, Moe? Because apparently, he has a lot more information than anybody else. So why isn`t he the one talking?

GRACE: Interesting question. To you, David Caplan. Where is the bodyguard?

CAPLAN: He`s kept -- Moe`s kept a very low profile. I believe he`s still in California. And the last we heard from him, really, was when he was claiming that he could be one of the fathers. And all of a sudden, he`s kept a very low profile and he`s really bowed out. So maybe he`s given up. He`s going to let Larry really deal with the spotlight for this.

GRACE: Well, I think we need to shine a light on all the people that were around her just before her time of death.

Now, to you, David Caplan. I want you to remember -- think back to something you said right here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPLAN: "Star" magazine has spoken to sources close to the investigation who, quote, said, "Her body tissue was loaded with methadone." We`re waiting to get the exact milligram count. But we also heard, and related, though, to the Demerol that police are investigating, looking into whether or not 75 milligrams of Demerol were injected into her prior to her death -- in fact, two minutes within her death.

Our sources told us that the methadone was still stored in her body issue after her death, and that it was very evident there were large doses of methadone in there. It was still present in her system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Is that the same source that told you now there is no methadone in her system?

CAPLAN: The report that we did remains correct. The report we released today says there was no methadone present in her system, meaning her blood or in her stomach. This -- the report we had last week, sources telling us, was that methadone was overloaded in her body tissue. Today I spoke with three toxicologists, who confirmed these reports and meshed them. Very simply -- difficult here -- very simply, you can have methadone in your body tissue, and what that reflects, then, is that you`re a long- term abuser/user of methadone. It stays in your body tissue longer. So it does not mean that Anna did methadone that day or even the day before. For methadone to be in your, quote, "system," that means you would -- in your blood or your stomach, you would have done it that day or not. So the reports do mesh with each other.

GRACE: OK. Well, you know what? I appreciate the contortion you just did...

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: ... to explain away your earlier cause of death. But you know, the cause of death has been tightly guarded by Dr. Joshua Perper. I have questioned him relentlessly on that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Dr. Perper, what is the difference between the pronounced time of death and the clinical time of death?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER: The clinical time of death is when the person stops breathing and the heart stops. And the irreversible type of death is when resuscitation methods or attempts are unsuccessful. And forensic pathologists are able to make a determination based on post-mortem findings how -- what time occurred or lapsed since the death. In this particular case, the death occurred within a very short time because the body was warm, and obviously, there were resuscitation attempts made, which otherwise, they wouldn`t have been made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And all the while we are discussing cause of death of Anna Nicole Smith, a formal inquiry, an inquest, a coroner`s inquest is set to go down in the Bahamas regarding the unexpected death of her son, 20-year- old Daniel. Jean Casarez is with us tonight with breaking news on that -- Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, Nancy, Court TV news has confirmed that Larry Birkhead, in fact, will be a witness for the coroner`s inquest that now will begin on Tuesday. He will be actually one of the first witnesses either Tuesday or Wednesday, a proceeding that is supposed to last weeks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Dr. Perper, you and I were talking on a previous night regarding the fact that she was inside her hotel room there at the casino, under the covers in her bed, where she had been sleeping. How much would the body temperature lower as she died under those circumstances? It`s not as if she were out in the elements.

PERPER: Well, again, those...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: The cause of death of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith apparently has been leaked. The tightly-guarded medical secrets were to be announced next week. Instead, tonight, did a deadly mixture of chloral hydrate, a sleeping medication, along with a raging infection, bring an unexpected end to the life of 39-year-old Anna Nicole Smith, leaving behind a 6-month-old baby girl set to inherit $475 million, Anna Nicole Smith`s sole descendent?

Joining us tonight is a very, very special guest. This is Anna Nicole Smith`s cousin with her exclusive response to the news today. Joining us, Melinda Hudson. Melinda, thank you for being with us.

MELINDA HUDSON, ANNA NICOLE`S COUSIN: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Are you surprised at today`s announcement?

HUDSON: Yes, I`m very shocked. I wouldn`t leave a stranger in a room with that high of a fever. And from Monday, and she didn`t die for four days, and they didn`t take her to the hospital? And she had a medical professional, supposed to be a nurse, in the room with her. I am appalled.

GRACE: Also with us, Tom Pirtle, Virgie Arthur`s attorney, her mother. What is Virgie`s response to this news, Tom?

TOM PIRTLE, ATTORNEY FOR VIRGIE AUTHOR: ... talked to her about it, but I know what she`s going to say. She`s going to say Anna Nicole and Daniel died of drug overdoses. Common factor, Stern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERPER: If there is an excessive amount of pills taken, it means that more than required to cause death, and therefore, a number of pills be present after the death of the individual in the stomach. But it doesn`t exclude the possibility that drugs and medication contributed or (INAUDIBLE) the death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, breaking news. Has the cause of death of Anna Nicole Smith been released ahead of time? A deadly dose of sleeping aid chloral hydrate, along with a raging temperature, allegedly brought her to an early end.

Tom Pirtle, you were discussing enablers surrounding her. Continue.

PIRTLE: I was. And we strongly believe that the people around her, Howard K. Stern, in particular, was an enabler, a person who supplied her with drugs. Nancy, he even testified that he picked up prescriptions under assumed names and brought them to her.

GRACE: Well, joining us tonight, his attorney, James Neavitt, a highly respected attorney out of LA. What about it, James Neavitt? Response?

JAMES NEAVITT, ATTORNEY FOR HOWARD K. STERN: He`s speculating. I`m not going to respond to his accusations. I mean, he`s been -- he`s been spreading that rumor without any kind of basis for it. And that`s what he -- I guess he wants to submit (ph) himself to the -- you know, whatever kind of license (ph) that he wants to get involved in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not what everybody thinks, and that`s as much as the medical examiner has really been willing to say. And I think what everybody thinks, at least what we think here is, the logical thing is methadone or some kind of a methadone cocktail. And I`m guessing that`s not the case because Dr. Perper said the results will be surprising, they will be significant. And if it`s what is kind of in the public discourse right now, I don`t think he`d be saying that. So I think there`s some twist to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Breaking news. Has there been a leak, a leak like a sieve out of the Broward County medical examiner`s office? Dr. Joshua Perper, who performed that six-hour autopsy on covergirl Anna Nicole Smith, was to release the cause of death next week. But tonight, according to sources, a deadly dose of chloral hydrate sleeping medication, along with a raging fever of 105, brought an early end to the life of Anna Nicole Smith, leaving her 6-month-old baby without a mom.

To Court TV`s Jean Casarez, on the case from the very beginning. Tonight`s revelations -- how do they jive with what Perper said earlier?

CASAREZ: Well, you know, Nancy, what I did, I went back to my notes because when Dr. Perper emerged after the six-hour autopsy, he gave a press conference. And so my notes tell me three things that are very interesting and possibly significant to these findings. First of all, he said that, I will do more to check for inhaled or injected substances. Number two, he said there were subtle findings in the heart and the GI system that will have to be verified by microscopic exam. Could be a sign of infection. It could be nothing, he said. And number three, he said that he found a bruise on her back, and that was related to a fall that she had in the bathroom. And the reason I cite that as number three is that according to this report, she was put in an ice bath in the bathroom.

GRACE: Jean, excellent analysis, as usual. Does that jibe with your reports, David Caplan?

CAPLAN: Yes, it absolutely does.

GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Jim in Indiana. Hi, Jim. Thanks for waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love you.

GRACE: Thank you. Tell that to the defense bar. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a quick question. Does you or anyone on your panel aware that chloral hydrate is what killed Marilyn Monroe?

GRACE: I was not. Dr. William Morrone, you`re the expert in celebrity death -- well, in deaths general, generally speaking. Were you aware of that?

MORRONE: Chloral hydrate was available and used regularly at that time, and it was considered much safer. It was reported as non- benzodiazepine barbiturate-type sleeping medicine. And he`s correct.

GRACE: Dr. Morrone, question.

MORRONE: Yes.

GRACE: Chloral hydrate, isn`t that what`s commonly referred to as being slipped a mickey?

MORRONE: When you mix chloral hydrate with alcohol, it`s the precursor by 10, 20, 30 years of the date rape drugs. That`s what was used 10, 30 years ago.

GRACE: Gamma hydroxy buterate (ph), GHB.

MORRONE: Yes.

GRACE: Really?

MORRONE: That`s what they used before that, yes. And that`s part of the abuse problem. And it is mildly addictive. You keep it away from alcohol. If somebody`s a regular user of alcohol, that`s not the right drug for short-term insomnia.

GRACE: I think Jim has another point. She wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe. She had all these morbid thoughts regarding early death. To you, Dr. Susan Lipkins, psychologist and author. Dr. Lipkins, chloral hydrate, if the caller is correct, being the death of Marilyn Monroe, this is extremely eerie.

SUSAN LIPKINS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, I think it really is consistent with her suicidal thoughts. I mean, she had planned her own suicide, in the sense that she wanted -- knew what she wanted to cover the coffin with. And I`m wondering whether she even came to Florida with some knowledge of that. I don`t think she knew that she had that kind of infection. I don`t think she was in charge of that. But I`m not sure that this isn`t part of the suicidal plan that she had for herself, or maybe with some help.

GRACE: And you know -- I want to go back to Jean Casarez. Jean, her death wish -- explain.

CASAREZ: Well, her death wish, when her son died -- and this was testimony we heard in Florida -- was that she died with her son, and her death wish was then to possibly not live any longer.

GRACE: In fact, there were e-mails, just recently released to you, David Caplan, where she talks about that she wants to die.

CAPLAN: Absolutely. On October 18, about a month or so after Daniel died, she sent e-mails out to several friends of hers saying, I want to die. I wish I could be in a better place. And this was very telling, of course, because it was blatantly suicidal thoughts.

GRACE: But on the other hand -- to Dr. William Morrone, medical examiner joining us out of Michigan -- the injection was in the buttocks. If she were injecting herself, she could have easily done that in the arm. You can inject in the stomach and in the top half of the leg, I mean, many places of the body as opposed to a rear injection. That indicates to me somebody else used the dirty needle.

MORRONE: It`s very, very common that injections in the buttocks are assisted. Somebody has to help you. You can`t get it right. The hand is reversed, and you don`t go deep enough and you have to have the right pressure. And you can`t see. You need help.

GRACE: We also know that Anna Nicole Smith is right-handed. David Caplan, which side? It was her left side?

CAPLAN: It was her left buttocks, correct.

GRACE: Well, that would have been virtually impossible for her to do that left-handed. I want to go to Andy Kahane, director of the crime victim`s office in Houston. Andy, the vultures, the carrion birds, are already picking at her dead flesh. Explain what`s on eBay.

ANDY KAHANE, DIR., VICTIM`S CRIME OFFICE FOR THE HOUSTON MAYOR: Oh, parasites have basically sold her diaries, her receipts, her -- anything that the dumpster divers could find for a profit. But you know, what I`m hearing tonight is making me more and more concerned because it appears more and more likely there might be actually criminal conduct that led to her death. So from my perspective, shame on eBay for not at least waiting until the final results came out from the autopsy to determine whether criminal conduct led to her death before they allowed...

GRACE: Andy, Andy...

KAHANE: ... parasites to sell.

GRACE: What about the fact that -- where did these diaries come from? You think she handed them over to eBay? Who took these diaries out of her possessions and put them on eBay to the tune of nearly half a million dollars?

KAHANE: These are low-life, river-bottom-dwelling catfish parasites that are basically preying on an innocent person. And I very much doubt that Anna Nicole Smith, as much as she loved adulation and fame, would have wanted her private thoughts to be sold for pure profit. It`s insidious and despicable.

GRACE: Out to you, James Neavitt and Tom Pirtle. Neavitt represents Howard K. Stern, the live-in lawyer. Tom Pirtle represents the mom, Virgie Arthur. To you gentlemen. Who would have gotten their mitts on their private diaries and put them on eBay? Howard Stern was with her at all times. Are you concerned, Mr. Neavitt, the finger is pointed at him?

NEAVITT: Well, you know, we`re concerned that things were taken out of her house. We`re concerned that people are doing things that are underhanded. We`re concerned that there`s speculation running rampant and rumors are being made about all kinds of things. You know, wait until the facts come out. You yourself talked to Dr. Perper. He told you back in the very beginning there were no injection marks on her body. How do you know this report is true? We`ll find out Monday. Wait until he comes on your show Monday and tells you exactly out of his mouth. You trust him.

GRACE: I do. I do. And to you, Tom Pirtle, the sale of her diaries, it`s off the top.

PIRTLE: It is off the top. I`ve got some information on that. And I heard they were found in a dumpster, actually, and she had thrown them away. Now, the family don`t believe that for one minute, that she would throw away her personal diaries and allow them to be sold. That...

GRACE: I got a question.

PIRTLE: Yes?

GRACE: Who`s the source on that?

PIRTLE: Can`t tell you.

(LAUGHTER)

GRACE: Well, bottom line, whoever is trying to cover their tracks would come up with a story like that, that she threw away her diaries.

Let`s unleash the other lawyers. Joining us tonight, Renee Rockwell and Penny Douglass Furr, both veteran trial lawyers as well as custody and family lawyers. Out to you, Renee Rockwell. Number one, if the latest report is true, the finger is going to be pointed at the entourage, all the people hanging onto her. She lay there without moving an inch the whole day Thursday.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I can`t imagine that she would have refused any kind of treatment. She had a nurse there. She had a bodyguard. She had a boyfriend/lawyer and everything else. Somebody`s going to end up having to pay for this.

GRACE: And to you, Penny Douglass Furr. There is no duty to rescue. But they took on the affirmative duty as nurses and caretakers.

PENNY DOUGLASS FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it`s possible, Nancy, that when she left, she just thought she had the flu. I don`t believe she knew she had a raging blood infection. And she got to Florida, and it sounds like she probably took the sleeping medication, hoping to sleep off the flu. I don`t think anyone was aware this was happening.

GRACE: I don`t think she was in any shape to inject herself or take her own nighttime medication, Renee.

ROCKWELL: No. She was not making any rational decisions, that`s obvious.

FURR: Well, didn`t the injection occur, like, a week earlier or some time earlier? It didn`t occur in Florida, did it?

GRACE: You know, you`re right. According to Caplan, it occurred as they were going off on the plane that Monday morning.

FURR: So this happened in the Bahamas. So the issue is going to be, did she have a legal substance that she had a nurse that was injecting to her?

GRACE: They all stood by and saw her die slowly! And we`ll get some answers at Trial 101 next week, a formal inquest, a coroner`s inquest in the Bahamas -- Jean Casarez covering that -- into the death of Daniel Smith, her 20-year-old son, who died in very similar circumstances.

When we come back, more on Anna Nicole and a toddler girl on cocaine at a church-run day care. What will become of the 19-month-old little girl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

JIM MORET, "INSIDE EDITION": The publications "The Star" and "The National Enquirer" are reporting that she died of toxic levels of chloral hydrate, which if taken, obviously, can become toxic and kill you. It can cause a person to become disoriented, incoherent, cause a slurring of speech, staggering. These are all really behaviors that we`ve seen Anna Nicole demonstrate in the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Cause of death released on Anna Nicole Smith. Is it legitimate, and where did it come from? An overdose of chloral hydrate, a lethal dose, along with a raging infection brought an end to the life of beauty Anna Nicole Smith.

Dr. Morrone, chloral hydrate -- what medication is it in? Would you just get a prescription for chloral hydrate?

MORRONE: It`s illegal to obtain it without a prescription in the United States.

GRACE: The name.

MORRONE: The name? Chloral hydrate is the generic name. There`s, like, 20 different brand names.

GRACE: Right. Well, name one.

MORRONE: Chloral (ph) is one.

GRACE: Oh. Oh.

MORRONE: OK?

GRACE: I didn`t know what it would go into. And Dr. Morrone...

KAHANE: Yes?

GRACE: ... we have confirmed Jim in Indiana was correct. Marilyn Monroe did have chloral hydrate in her body at the time of the death, probably not the sole factor of death.

Let`s go out to the lines. Julie in Utah. Hi, Julie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Love your show. You`re beautiful.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear? And thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I`d like to know is, she had a private nurse in her room, and they didn`t account for her to wake up until after 2:30, 3:00 o`clock. Why was that private nurse -- I`m not a medical student, I`m studying criminal justice. Why didn`t that nurse check vital statistics? And where is the record of that?

GRACE: You know what, David Caplan? I agree. How could they all just stand by? The woman didn`t move a toe the whole day!

CAPLAN: It`s an excellent question. She was found at 1:30 PM, and she slept through the whole night. She just -- the nurse maybe just thought she was still sleeping. She had this bad flu. She didn`t feel well. She wanted to sleep it off. It`s very suspect why no one thought to, you know, shake her, wake her up, you know, Wake up, it`s late-

GRACE: Very disturbing. Some of the trade names in which you can find chloral hydrate, Aquachloral, Novochlorohydrate (ph), Somnose (ph), Noktek (ph) and Somnote -- some of the prescription drugs.

And very quickly, back to the lawyers, Renee and Penny, what repercussion for leaking out of the medical examiner`s office? Penny, you first.

FURR: Oh, I think they could be prosecuted when they find out who leaked this. This was the wrong thing to do, and it definitely should not have been done. And that should be pursued.

GRACE: Renee?

ROCKWELL: Well, Nancy, in the scheme of things, that`s just the tip of the iceberg. Other people have much bigger problems.

GRACE: OK. We will be live with the latest on the inquest and as the cause of death is officially released by Dr. Joshua Perper. Our big thanks to not only Jean Casarez tonight, but David Caplan. Also to Jim Neavitt and Tom Pirtle and Don Clark, principals in this case.

I want to tell you about a little girl high on cocaine at the church- run day care. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the stun gun that Albany police say a father used on his own young son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re talking about an 18-month-old child, so it just has to be excruciating. This would cause extreme pain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Residents of the apartment complex where the arrest happened reacted in disbelief to the arrest of 29-year-old Cheryl Lynn Sing (ph) for putting her baby in an oven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too much. It`s too crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This little boy is just 2 years old, and yes, he is smoking a cigar. Not just any cigar. Police say it`s pot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police told China (ph) that her child had died by means of a microwave.-

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know why! I don`t know why anybody would do that to her!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Baby in a microwave. Baby in an oven. Pot for tots. It goes on and on. There is vodka baby, now baby on cocaine at church-run day care.

Eben Brown reporting with 970 WFLA. What happened?

EBEN BROWN, 970 WFLA: Good evening, Nancy. This began on Monday, when a child care worker at this day care, which is operated by a church -- and that day care provider happens to be a relative of the child -- noticed the child acting funny, acting tipsy, not able to walk properly, rather irritable, and called the parents and said, Hey, something`s not right with the baby here. Parents took the baby over to the hospital. The hospital did some tests, and it turns out the baby had cocaine in her system.

GRACE: Now, didn`t they test the parents and the parents were negative for cocaine?

BROWN: They did. The hospital called police right away. Police called the Department of Children and Families here in the state of Florida. The parents were tested. They were cleared. They went over to the day care facility. The workers and the facility were both cleared. And now the investigation continues.

GRACE: Well, it better. Back to you, Dr. Jennifer Shu, pediatrician and author. Dr. Shu, What effect could this have on a 19-month-old baby girl, to ingest cocaine?

DR. JENNIFER SHU, PEDIATRICIAN: Nancy, cocaine is a fast-on, fast- off. So you would expect that she probably ate it within 10 minutes or so before she started having symptoms. It`s a stimulant, which means it revs up your body, usually the brain and the heart. So your heart rate goes up. Your blood pressure can go up. Your temperature goes up. You can have seizures, violent behavior. Any number of things can happen. And that high typically lasts an hour or longer.

GRACE: Joining us tonight, a special guest, the senior pastor there at First Baptist Church of Mandarin in Jacksonville, Florida, Pastor Gary Williams. Pastor, thank you for being with us. The parents have been cleared. What says the church?

PASTOR GARY WILLIAMS, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MANDARIN: The church has been cleared also, Nancy. And first of all, I want to thank you for allowing me to come on your program tonight.

GRACE: Yes, sir.

WILLIAMS: Actually...

GRACE: Well, I know you`re heartbroken. The church is heartbroken. Go ahead.

WILLIAMS: It is. And one of the paramount things that we`re concerned about first, and that`s always, is the safety and the well-being of children. That`s number one. And in that, we have news today that the child is doing well. But then the second thing is that we`re really concerned about is the reputation of our church, which has been in existence for 130 years.

GRACE: I`m very familiar with your church in Jacksonville, the First Baptist Church of Mandarin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: I want to reiterate that the First Baptist Church there of Mandarin there in Jacksonville has been cleared regarding the cocaine baby, as have the parents for now. But that goes back 48 hours. The investigation is ongoing. Thank you to the church for being with us tonight.

What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the people who touched our lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: What you just said doesn`t even make sense. You said if a judge issued an order for a DNA test, Stern, your client, would comply. You`ve already got a California judge ordering it and a Bahamian judge ordering it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. First of all, you don`t have a California court ordering my client to submit Dannielynn for testing. It was against Anna. And in the Bahamas...

GRACE: But now your client has the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Court`s (INAUDIBLE) very serious about talking about the evidence that`s going to be introduced at trial.

GRACE: You already talked about the evidence! The whole interview is about the evidence!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What evidence did we talk about, with the exception of the one question that the media already knew? Don Jacobs is a reporter in town. There`s no doubt -- and I think lawyers -- defense lawyers that travel down the road of "Make the state prove I`m the shooter" when it`s clear you are, they`re stupid.

GRACE: No, it`s not over yet. But check out all the other guys, OK? Hey, I think I`ll call home and tell Mom. Hey, Mom, guess what`s happening? An off-duty cop is killing a lady bartender.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mommy is charged in the indictment in count nine for masturbating while the father had anal and oral sex with the 6-year-old boy. The son, the registered sex offender, was holding the kid down. They should burn in hell for this one.

GRACE: Yes, I think I can go on record agreeing with you on that one.

A Shreveport mom questioned by police after her 1st-grader brings crack cocaine to 1st grade "show and tell." That`s right, you heard it. Mommy`s going bye-bye to the big dollhouse!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Parents all around this nation have an affirmative obligation to take care of their children. When they do not, there are criminal consequences and consequences for custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We remember Army Private Barry Mayo, 21, Mississippi, killed Iraq, the second soldier from his hometown to lose his life in just two years. Always smiling, he liked school (ph) and his silver Toyota (INAUDIBLE) parents and brother. Barry Mayo, American hero.

Thank you for being with us. Good night from the New York control room. Night, Liz, Brett (ph), Ramon (ph). See you tomorrow night, 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END