Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Judge calls for new DNA test in Smith case

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 16, 2007

FORT LAUDERDALE - A judge ordered another DNA sample be taken from Anna Nicole Smith's body Thursday as he heard often fiery arguments in the fight over the former Playboy Playmate's remains and custody of her infant daughter.

The swab from Smith's cheek was to be taken in the afternoon, despite the objections of attorneys for her longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, and her estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, and testimony from the medical examiner and DNA experts that such an additional sample was likely not necessary.

Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin said he wanted to make sure all samples were taken before Smith was buried, so her body wouldn't have to be exhumed.

"When we bury her, I want it to be forever," he said in the second day of an emergency hearing.

Smith, 39, died Feb. 8 after collapsing at a Florida hotel.

As the proceedings dragged on, investigators in the Bahamas went into a mansion that Stern and Smith shared, though the officers declined to say why they were there.

Stern says he is executor of Smith's will and wants to have her buried next to her son in the Bahamas. Arthur wants her daughter buried in her home state of Texas.

Photographer Larry Birkhead says DNA taken from Smith will help prove he fathered the former centerfold's 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, who could inherit millions.

The judge has said the dispute could be lengthy. The hearing, which began Wednesday, stretched into Thursday and was to continue today.

[Last modified February 16, 2007, 01:13:03]