Daniel Smith's death 'drug-related,' pathologist says

An American pathologist who conducted a private autopsy on Anna Nicole Smith's 20-year-old son says his death is drug related.

Dr. Cyril Wecht said Daniel Smith's death was accidental, the result of methadone and two antidepressant drugs interacting in his system.

Smith died Sept. 10 in the Bahamas where he had travelled to be with his mother after the birth of her second child, a girl.

Toxicology tests have shown low doses of Zoloft, Lexapro and methadone in his body, none of them in large enough quantities to harm Smith.

The drugs acting together had a "cumulative effect on the central nervous system"that stopped Smith's heart, Wecht said.

He called it a "classical death resulting from a combination of drugs without an overdose of any one."

AU.S. doctor prescribed the Zoloft and Lexapro commonly used for treatment of anxiety and panic disorders to Smithwhen he complained of depression after breaking up with a girlfriend.

Methadone is a pain-reliever, but is also used in treating recovering heroin addicts.

Wecht said he did not know why Smith was taking methadonebut said he had no history of drug-addiction.

Smith, who appeared several times on the reality series The Anna Nicole Show, was the son of Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate who caused a scandal by marrying Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89.

She has been engaged in a legal battle over his millions since he died the following year.

She hired Wecht to perform an autopsy on her son after a local coroner was not able to determine a cause of death.

Wecht is a forensic pathologist who has consulted on other celebrity cases including Elvis Presley's death.

Wecht said he would share his results Thursday with the examiner who conducted the official autopsy.

Nassau Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez declined comment on Wecht's findings. He said he has not yet received official toxicology results.

An inquest intoSmith's death had been planned because the causewas unknown. The inquest could be cancelled if the Nassau coroner determinesthedeath is accidental.

Anna Nicolefoundher sonin a chair in her hospital room when she woke up, and doctors were unable to revive him.

Hehad arrivedafter the birth ofa healthy babygirl, named Dannie Lynn Hope.

On Tuesday, Howard K. Stern, a lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith who accompanied her to the Bahamas, claimed to be the father of the girl on CNN's Larry King Live.

But another of Smith's boyfriends, photographer Larry Birkhead, also claims to be the father and is seeking a DNA test to prove it.

Stern said he plans to marry Smith "at some point."