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People Magazine
By Linda Trischitta and Nicole Weisensee Egan
10/02/2006 at 11:40 AM EDT
The probe into the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s 20-year-old son Daniel will continue following the release of the latest lab results, Bahamian Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Authorities there received lab results from two facilities late Friday night, and police have concluded that more investigation is needed, he says.
According to officials, the toxicology and tissue tests were conducted by two labs, including one in the U.S. used by Anna Nicole Smith’s private pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht. A source who has seen the results confirms that they showed elevated levels of methadone and Zoloft in Daniel Smith’s system, similar to the findings that Wecht revealed to PEOPLE last week.
No parties involved in the investigation would immediately comment on the record about the results.
Gomez says that police have not told him how long they need or what their investigation will cover, and he says the decision about whether to conduct an inquest will be made once police reports are in.
Wecht, meanwhile, confirmed Monday that he now has the written toxicology report from National Medical Services in Willow Grove, Pa., but he declined to reveal the exact levels of Lexapro, Zoloft and methadone found in Daniel Smith’s body. He said it is up to the Bahamian authorities or Anna Nicole’s attorneys to reveal that information.
However, Wecht did say the results don’t change his opinion about cause and manner of death.
“We have drug deaths in America all the time,” he tells PEOPLE. “The cause of death remains clear: The combination of these three drugs killed him. As for the manner, based on what I know, it was accidental.”
Despite the continuing investigation, Wecht says he does not believe an inquest is necessary in this case.
“In the United States, we don’t do inquests on suicides and we don’t do inquests on accidental, drug-related deaths,” he said. “However, I’m not criticizing them. The decision is theirs. They’re an autonomous country.”