by Rita Cosby
All that could be said back to Larry was, "What goes around, comes around."
chapter 13
A Dramatic Ending
On March 26, 2007, in a press conference broadcast around the world, Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger and Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper announced the results of the investigation into the death of Anna Nicole Smith. "We are convinced based on a thorough review of the evidence," Chief Tiger explained, "that this has been an accidental overdose with no other criminal element present."
Dr. Perper stepped up to the microphone to say her death was due to "combined drug intoxication" after taking a medley of chloral hydrate and at least eight other prescription drugs.
Chief Tiger said, "We have reviewed hundreds of hours of videotape captured by the hotel security cameras . . . and we found nothing unusual. We analyzed the contents of the laptop computer belonging to Mr. Stern, with the approval of his attorney, and we found nothing to indicate any foul play."
But did authorities have all the information they needed when they closed the case?
From the night before her death to the night after her death, there were numerous calls and frenetic activity that are now confirmed that raise new questions. The facts I have discovered in my investigation show a broad series of inconsistencies— outright untruths and questionable circumstances—which add to the mysterious death of Anna Nicole Smith.
• • •
After her death many ideas and theories have been floated about this story, some of which were pierced with reality, others brought down quickly with legal darts. But according to official documents and records, court transcripts, eyewitness accounts, and the participants' own words, here is the chain of events of what definitely happened during the key hours surrounding the death of Broward County Decedent No: 07-0223, Vickie Lynn Marshall.
The night before she died, February 7
5:13 p.m.
Howard received a call from Dr. Khris Eroshevich, Anna's psychiatrist and close friend. It was a seven-minute conversation. Dr. Khris left the Florida hotel that day for an evening flight to California.
6:38 p.m.
During the afternoon and evening, Howard called Ron Rale, Anna's attorney and Howard's longtime friend, at least five times. The last call to Rale that night was at 6:38 p.m.
6:41 p.m.
Howard received his final call of the evening on his cell phone from Alex Goen, CEO of Trimspa—a man in the middle of several lawsuits, including two class action suits against his company, both for false advertising. One of the suits named Anna Nicole, TrimSpa's spokesperson as a defendant.
Her weight loss may have been helped along by a variety of drugs and other products. Remember, when she died authorities noted she had an abscess on her left buttock. The boil had needle track markings and was filled with pus. This shot, Dr. Perper determined, was the genesis of her infection. Dr. Perper, however, never determined who actually gave her the shot. He also could not determine what was in it, as he was told it could have been either human growth hormone, vitamin B12, or immunoglobulin.
11:01 p.m.
Hotel surveillance footage captures a female, later identified as Melodie Delancy, entering Room 609. Room 609 was the adjoining room where Moe was staying over. Moe himself explained to Fox News that "It was an open room, and I knew she [Anna] wasn't feeling well." So, Howard asked Moe if he could stay over, and Moe told him, "Oh, no problem." According to the medical examiner's investigative report, Moe went to sleep in the guest room and "awakened around 4 a.m., at which time he checked the couch in the living room where he had seen her [Anna] when he came into the room. She was no longer there and he assumed she had gone to sleep in her room."
The Day Anna Nicole Smith Died, February 8
According to initial information obtained from Seminole Police Department detective Marian Bryant, Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Gertrude M. Juste reported in her scene investigation that Anna Nicole had stayed the prior night in suites 607 and 609 with her "significant other" Howard Stern and a friend after arriving from the Bahamas on Monday. "The decedent and Mr. Stern slept in room 607 and the friend (Maurice Brighthaupt, friend and bodyguard) slept in room 609."
There was no mention of Melodie Delancy's stay. But hotel surveillance cameras caught her leaving Room 609 at 8:03 a.m.
9:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m.
Moe said he went into Anna's room and "thought he saw her moving, but was not certain." He told Howard he was going down to meet his wife, Tas, for breakfast. Howard was now left alone in the suite with Anna.
10:00 a.m. and 10:03 a.m.
Howard used his cell phone to check his voicemail.
10:42 a.m.
Howard got a call from King Eric, who told him he was at the airport in Florida ready to be picked up. Seminole Detective Marian Bryant reported that: "At about 11:00 a.m. or 11:15 a.m., Mr. Stern spoke with the decedent [Anna] and informed her he was picking up guests from the airport."
But in actuality Howard did not go to the airport. He sent Moe.
10:45 a.m.
Howard called Moe who was having breakfast in the hotel with his wife. Tas told private investigators, "Howard wanted to stay with Anna because she was so sick." At 10:46 a.m. and 10:49 a.m., Howard checked his voicemail.
10:51 a.m. Howard called Alex Goen of TrimSpa.
10:53 a.m.
Howard called Ron Rale. It is perhaps interesting to note it was still early in California, 7:53 a.m., where Rale lives.
10:54 a.m. Moe called Goen Technologies.
10:56 a.m.–11:19 a.m.
There are several calls back and forth between Howard, King Eric, and Moe during Moe and Tas's drive to the airport to pick up King Eric, Brigitte, and King Eric's first mate.
Moe and Tas picked up the group and headed back to the Hard Rock Hotel with the Bahamian guests.
Around 11:50 a.m.
Howard walked down the hall and got in the elevator—leaving Anna in bed and completely alone. When the elevator doors opened in the lobby, Howard was greeted by Moe, Tas, King Eric, Brigitte, and the first mate. The group was just coming in to the hotel and about to head upstairs. According to both Tas and Moe's statements to private investigators, Howard was "acting strange." He was very "fidgety." Howard said rather peculiarly that he had to come to the lobby because his cell phone wasn't working in the room. Then, he turned around quickly and headed back up to the room with the newly arrived visitors.
11:54 a.m.
According to hall video surveillance footage, the party entered room 609 together. Howard walked up to the bedroom door where Anna was "not feeling well" and, according to his visitors shouted, "Anna, we have guests."
Brigitte said, "Don't wake her up." It also did not go unnoticed that Howard then made three phone calls on his cell phone. The cell phone that five minutes earlier he said wasn't working in the room.
The first of those calls was made at 11:59 a.m. Howard was calling the hotel liaison—twice—as she was almost simultaneously calling him. She would then call him back at 12:02, but he would already be on to his next call.
The hotel liaison is in charge of assisting V.I.P.s with their needs and helping them resolve any problems that might arise during their stay at the hotel. She was called many times during these critical minutes. She was close to Anna and her team. When Anna was in town for the January boxing match, for example, she bought Anna bras and helped her find a pink pair of boxing gloves.
Today's needs would be a bit more urgent . . . in fact they would be critical.
Noon
Howard called boat broker Mark Dekema, the gentleman who had sold Anna the boat the month before. According to both Dekema and the boat handyman, Howard had a 1 p.m. appointment at the marina, scheduled and confirmed. But when the ten-minute phone call with Dekema ended, Howard immediately announced to his guests that he had to do something between 12 and 1 p.m.
"It's noon now," King Eric said.
"Then, he asked me if I could sta
y," Brigitte remembers. "Because they were 'going to go to the boat.' And I said, 'no problem.'"
Moe decided he didn't like the idea of Brigitte staying alone with Anna when she was so sick, so he asked Tas if she would mind hanging back too. "Just stay for a little while, baby," he asked. "Do you mind?"
Tas unenthusiastically agreed to stay.
According to information gathered by Seminole Police, the men went directly from the hotel to the boat and back.
12:14 p.m.
Howard, Moe, King Eric and the first mate exited Room 609 together. Moe left to do errands. King Eric and Howard headed to the Royal Palms Yacht Basin, leaving Tas and Brigitte in the suite with Anna in the bed. A hotel employee, who is familiar with the couple, told me that Howard had not left her side all week. The employee thought it was very "unusual" that Howard would not even be in the hotel when Anna was found dead, especially after her being so sick.
Tas also thought it was unusual that the room was so messy. The official scene investigation written later after Anna's body had been removed, described the mess like this: "Several white towels were strewn around on the bathroom floor and around the sinks. One of the sinks had what appeared to be caked yellow/brown residue of emesis [vomit] . . . The night table has various items, including cold medicine; and opened and non opened cans of sodas; SlimFast; empty packs of gum and Nicorette; and an open box of Tamiflu tablets. The table on the right of the bed also contains a partly covered transparent glass jar containing a brownish liquid. There is a closet full of men's and women's clothes with multiple pairs of shoes littering the floor located to the left of the bedroom entrance. There was a pearl necklace on the foot of the bed and a Louis Vuitton purse on the chair by the window. Opposite the foot of the bed was an armoire-type of furniture against the wall with several drawers at the bottom, and a television set in the top portion. Some of the drawers were open and contained various articles of clothing."
12:17 p.m.
Howard made his second call to Mark Dekema. Though Dekema doesn't recall specifically what Howard asked during which phone conversation, he does remember Howard calling incessantly to discuss various things right before the appointment. Howard asked for directions, saying he was coming from the Hard Rock. He also asked if the work on the boat had been completed and Dekema says he gave Howard some ideas for where they could get boat supplies.
Howard called Mark Dekema five times between twelve and one o'clock.
12:27 p.m.
Moe called his wife Tas who was in the suite with Brigitte Neven.
12:44 p.m. Tas called Moe. The call lasted one minute.
12:45 p.m.
Tas called Moe again immediately. This call lasted four minutes.
1:15–1:22 p.m.
Howard called boat broker Mark Dekema while he was with the boat handyman and King Eric at Royal Palms Yacht Basin. Dekema says Howard ended the call abruptly saying, "I have another call, I gotta take this." According to Dekema, he sounded a little urgent, a little desperate. But we now know that at that time, Howard didn't click over to another call. He would first check his voice mail (at 1:23 p.m.), and then he'd receive a call from Moe at 1:24.
1:17 p.m. Tas called Moe. The call lasted a minute at the most.
1:19 p.m.
Tas called Moe back again. The call also lasted one minute.
1:22 p.m. Moe called Tas. Their call lasted one minute.
1:23 p.m. Howard called his voicemail.
1:24 p.m.
Moe called Howard. It was a one-minute call. Moe says that he told Howard to "get over there right away." Moe says Howard's response was "Oh, okay," then a few words more and then he clicked off.
So far, all parties involved have publicly suggested there was only one call from Moe to Howard. In fact, here's how Moe described the sequence of events. Moe said: His wife called him, he called Howard, he called the hotel liaison, and "then I rushed back."
1:26 p.m. Howard called Moe. It was a one-minute call.
1:27 p.m.–1:34 p.m.
For seven minutes Howard does not use his phone. The boat handyman says after Moe's call, Howard did not seem upset at all. He answered several questions, including the fact that he forgot to bring the handyman his few hundred dollars for the repairs. He then said in a monotone voice, "I have an emergency and have to leave."
The handyman said Howard "seemed very nonchalant when he said it. He didn't seem distressed . . . acted like it was a minor business issue versus a personal crisis." He walked back to his car. He didn't rush. Given what he knows now, the handyman said Howard's behavior was "extremely odd."
1:28 p.m.
Moe called his wife again. They spoke for four minutes. Tas said she had been trying in vain to resuscitate Anna.
1:31 p.m.
Moe called the hotel liaison on her cell. Almost simultaneously she was also calling him.
1:32 p.m.
Moe called the hotel liaison on her cell. The game of phone tag was on.
1:33 p.m.
Moe called the Hard Rock Gaming Commission Office, where the hotel liaison works.
1:33 p.m., 1:34 p.m., 1:35 p.m., 1:36 p.m.
Howard, now en route back to the hotel, called Moe over and over again.
1:34 p.m. and 1:36 p.m. Moe called the hotel liaison.
1:36 p.m.
Moe called his wife Tas who was still in the room. 911 still has not been called.
1:36 p.m.
The hotel liaison called her boss, the Director of Operations. The Hard Rock Hotel was in a delicate situation.
1:37 p.m.
Howard made two calls to the hotel liaison back to back.
1:38 p.m.—Emergency services are finally called for.
911 cannot be called directly from a Hard Rock Hotel room phone, so Tas called a hotel operator, who in turn notified hotel security of the emergency.
1:38 p.m.
The hotel liaison called the Director of Operations, again.
1:39 p.m.
The hotel liaison called the office of the hotel's Director of Purchasing.
1:40 p.m.
Seminole Police dispatch received an emergency call from Hard Rock security.
1:40 p.m.
Moe entered Anna's room. Although Moe claimed he was in the room when 911 was initially called, he actually arrived two minutes later. He removed the covers and pulled Anna's naked body from the bed, and then he put her on the floor and began futile attempts at CPR.
1:43 p.m. Hard Rock Hotel medical staff arrived to Room 607.
1:44 p.m. The Seminole Police arrived to Room 607.
1:44 p.m. The hotel liaison called Howard.
1:47 p.m.
Seminole Fire Rescue arrived to Room 607, as does Hollywood, Florida, Fire and Rescue.
1:48 p.m.
The hotel liaison called Howard's cell phone again.
1:51 p.m.
Howard entered the room. Tas said, "He had no reaction at first, he was unemotional."
Paramedics asked Howard, "How long has she been like this?" and "What was she taking?" According to Tas, Howard answered, "I don't know. I don't know."
Howard then called Dr. Khris, who was back in California.
1:54 p.m.
Howard called Dr. Khris, who prescribed all nine medications found in Anna's system when she died, including the chloral hydrate, which was prescribed to Howard Stern.
1:59 p.m.
Seminole Police Detectives arrived on the scene. Howard told Seminole Police, "that he did not see her take medication, but believed she was taking her medication."
2:02 p.m. and 2:09 p.m.
Howard called Dr. Khris again. The female doctor told paramedics on the phone that Anna had been taking medication since experiencing problems with her breast implants and recently for depression over her son's death.
2:09 p.m. Dr. Khris called the Hard Rock Hotel liaison.
Approximately 2:15 p.m.
Anna was wheeled out of the Hard Rock Hotel, Howard
followed the gurney to the hallway elevator, but then stayed upstairs as Moe left with Anna to the hospital. Howard was seen crouching down in the hallway, with his hands covering his face.