The Tribune yesterday learned from a high-placed source that a friend of Ms Smith also spent the night at Doctors Hospital.
According to the source, 38year-old Ms Smith, the deceased Daniel Wayne Smith, 20, and a third person were in the room.
The Tribune was also told that patients overheard Ms Smith screaming loudly and blaming someone for the death of her son.
Ms Smith was quoted as shouting: “You caused this.” The patient further claimed that Ms Smith could be heard crying from 9am until 1pm.
Although the results of the autopsy had not yet been released at press time last night, The Tribune was told by its source that Daniel’s organs were all found to be in “excellent condition.”
Police yesterday were not able to release any new information, but vehemently denied reports circulating in the Bahamian media that stated that blood and vomit had been found at the scene.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, officer in charge of crime, Reginald Ferguson yesterday-emphasised that the first officer to arrive at the scene observed no sign of trauma to the body of 20 year-old Daniel Wayne Smith, nor did he see any “blood, vomit or any liquid on the floor.”
Mr Ferguson said that had there been any blood or vomit at the scene it would have been “highly unlikely that hospital hospital personnel would have removed it.
While the autopsy on the body was being completed yesterday, Butler’s Funeral Homes and Crematoriums stood by to prepare Daniel’s body to be sent to California.
“Once the hospital has released the remains to our establishment, we are then able to process all of the documents for repatriation to California,” Loretta Butler-Turner of Butler’s Funeral Home told ABC News.
In a special press conference held yesterday at Doctors Hospital, Barry Rassin, the hospital’s president and CEO, sought to set the record straight on the circumstances surrounding the death of the former playmate’s son.
Mr Rassin said that the hospital can confirm that Daniel arrived at around 11pm last Saturday.
“He spent the entire evening in the room and remained as a visitor with his mother and newly born sister. On Sunday, September 10, at 6:20am, it was noted by one of our associates that Daniel was attending to his mother’s comfort,” he said.
Mr Rassin said that Daniel was also subsequently observed to be asleep on “multiple occasions.”
“At 9:38am the nurse was called, following which physicians on the floor were immediately summoned. Recognising Daniel was unresponsive, they initiated CPR. A code blue was called and the team responded from the Emergency Room,” Mr Rassin said.
He said that resuscitative efforts, using advanced life support protocol continued for 22 minutes, without reponse.
Daniel was then pronounced dead at 10:05am on Sunday.
Also addressing Bahamian and foreign media at the conference, Dr Hubert Minnis, the obstetrician who delivered Ms Smith’s baby, said that his patient had undergone “an uneventful caesarean section” on Thursday at Doctors Hospital.
“At which time a live female infant was delivered with no complication.
“Both the mother and the baby had done well post-operatively and are presently doing well and are recuperating well. Both are experiencing no problems at this time,” Dr Minnis said.
Ms Smith was named Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1993, but it was not until one year later when she married Texas oil tycoon J Howard Marshall II that she became a household name.
She was 26 and he was 89 at the time. He died the following year in 1995.
In the long-running court battle, Ms Smith initially was awarded $474 million of her late husband’s estate, which was subsequently cut to $89 million, and eventually reduced to zero.
The Texas state court ruled that Mr Marshall’s youngest son was the sole heir to his fortune.
However, the US Supreme Court ruled in May of this year that the former playmate could continue to pursue her claim in federal courts in California despite this.
In recent years, Ms Smith has become known as being the face of the weight management system Trimspa.
Her now deceased son Daniel was the product of Ms Smith’s 1985 marriage to Billy Smith. The couple reportedly met while working together at Jim’s Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Texas. They divorced in 1987.
By KARIN HERIG and PAUL TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporters
