No Evidence Anna Nicole Died of Drugs

Doctors investigating the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith said last night that prescription drugs had been found in the model's hotel room, but that no pills had been found in her stomach.

Smith, 39, died after collapsing in a Florida hotel room on Thursday; she was a former Playboy playmate of the year who had endured well-publicised battles with drugs and alcohol. Speaking after the post mortem examination, the Broward county medical examiner, Joshua Perper, said her death remained a "medical puzzle" that would not be solved for at least three weeks.

There was no immediate indication of a drug overdose, he said, before adding: "[We] do not exclude any kind of contribution of medication to the death". Dr Perper also said an autopsy had found no signs of physical injury on the body.

Charlie Tiger, the police chief of Seminole county, said nothing unusual was seen on hotel surveillance tapes, and there was no evidence to suggest a crime.

Friends said yesterday that the actor had sunk into depression after her son Daniel, 20, died last September, and had tried to kill herself at least once.

Mark Steines, a reporter with the TV show Entertainment Tonight and an acquaintance of Smith and her partner Howard K Stern, said her depression had worsened recently. "After the death of Daniel, she did jump in her pool and attempt suicide," he said.

Smith has left behind a paternity battle over her daughter Dannielynn, aged five months. Mr Stern is listed on the birth certificate as the father but lawyers for Larry Birkett, a photographer, went to court in Los Angeles yesterday to ask a judge to order a DNA test and award him custody.

The battle took a further twist last night when Prince Frederick von Anhalt, the husband of the actor Zsa Zsa Gabor, said he might be Dannielynn's father. Von Anhalt, who has been married to Gabor for more than 20 years, said he and Smith had been having an affair since the 1990s and threatened to sue for custody of the girl.