Smith's doctors raided over star's drugs death

Nearly nine months after the sudden death of voluptuous ex-Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, U.S. California authorities on Friday carried out a series of raids across the state as part of an investigation into the drugs overdose death of the reality TV star.

Anna Nicole Smith, a model and star whose life provided regular fodder to yellow journalism, was found dead on Feb. 8 in a Florida hotel room. A private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room at the hotel. She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a Hollywood, Florida, hospital where she was declared dead.

Smith, who worshiped Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe as her deity, and wanted to be the next Monroe, also resembled her idol in her untimely death. Monroe was 36 when she died of an overdose of sleeping pills, while Smith died at the age of 39 after apparently collapsing in the Florida hotel room.

Investigators raided six locations, including the offices and residences of two of Smith's former doctors who treated or prescribed drugs for Smith before her death, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office confirmed Friday.

State Justice Department officials, with help from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement searched the homes and offices of psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich and physician Sandeep Kapoor.

Eroshevich had traveled alongside Smith on her final Florida trip and was responsible for prescribing all 11 medications found in Smith's hotel room, where she died, while doctor Kapoor prescribed methadone to Smith shortly before she died.

Overdoses of Methadone, a popular narcotic painkiller that is used as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs, can cause shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heartbeat.

The substance was also found in the system of Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, who died on September 10 in Smith's own hospital room in the Bahamas, just three days after she gave birth to a daughter, Dannielyn Hope Marshall Stern. The medical examiner at the time had said that Daniel had methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died.

The raids, which took place in Los Angeles and Orange counties, were carried out as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into Smith's death, the state Attorney General Jerry Brown Jr. announced at a press conference.

"Obviously, to get a search warrant, you need probable cause," Brown said. "You don't go to a judge and get a search warrant for someone's home if you don't think some serious crime has been committed. Prescribing drugs in an illegal manner can be criminal."

However, no charges have been filed, and no one has been arrested so far, but Brown hinted that some of the parties under investigation could be in some serious trouble.

Brown said the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in the California Department of Justice began the investigation on March 30 after learning that the drugs involved in Smith's death had been prescribed by California doctors and distributed by California pharmacies.

Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, Texas. Smith first gained popularity as Playboy magazine's 1993 Playmate of the Year and then increased her public presence with a series of glossy ads for Guess?, a popular American name-brand clothing line that uses a question mark as its emblem. She starred in a short-lived cable television reality series, The Anna Nicole Show, from 2002 to 2004.

Smith, who drew comparisons to such legendary beauties as Marilyn Monroe due to her penchant for white dresses and sleepy bedroom eyes, had become the talk of the town when she married 89-year-old oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, who was 63 years her senior. Her highly publicized marriage to Marshall aired speculations that she married the octogenarian merely for his money, however, Smith had denied.

Her career and public image had suffered as she gained lot of weight. Few months before her death, she had slimmed down to her former shape that led her to become the spokeswoman for the weight loss product TrimSpa.

Her alleged romantic interests included bodybuilder Clay Spires, Scott Baio, John Travolta's nephew Rikki, and real estate magnate Jonathan McManus.