FACT: Daniel photos marketed immediately after Daniel’s death
NOTE: Anna was sedated for days after Daniel’s death
QUESTION 1: Who offered the photos to Getty Images?
QUESTION 2: What happened to the money?
21 September 2006 (WENN)
Distraught former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith was forced to sell photos of her son Daniel Smith taken the night before he died in order to pay for his funeral expenses. The family portraits were taken in a hospital room in the Bahamas two days after the birth of Anna Nicole’s daughter and hours before her 20-year-old son was found dead.
Photo agency Getty Images sold the photos to US publication In Touch for $400,000 after a fierce bidding war. According to In Touch executive editor Dan Wakeford, “We purchased the photos, beating the competition. The photos were extremely emotive, and our readers are incredibly intrigued by this story.” Wakeford says the images show “a perfectly healthy young man.” While it is unclear what portion of the proceeds will go to Anna Nicole, a source tells American publication Us Weekly that the devastated star sold the pictures in order to pay for her son’s funeral. The source says, “She needs the money.” Getty Images claims that a portion of the profits from the sale of the photos will go to a charitable foundation to be set up in Daniel’s name. His body remains at Butler’s Funeral Home in the Bahamas and won’t be released to the family until the investigation into his death is complete.
http://imdb.com/name/nm1226410/news
Sep 19, 2006 - Newsawf.org “New York, Sept 19(ANI): While she is still mourning the death of her 20 year old son, it seems the tragic event has left Anna Nicole Smith much richer.
The 38-year-old and her photo agent, Getty Images, have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of the lad’s final pictures with his mother and his new sister in a Bahamian maternity ward.
while causes of the tragic death are still unknown, sources claim that In Touch magazine has paid as much as 400,000 dollars for the print exclusive on photos, and the Paramount-produced television shows “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider” have forked out an estimated 250,000 dollars for the TV exclusive.”
(SubNote: there has long been an undocumented rumor that InTouch purchased the photo rights from Getty less than 24 hours after Daniel’s death - meaning these photos would have been sold to Getty prior to that)
When will this petition finally be heard??
Mar 02nd, ‘07 -
Daniel’s father wants son exhumed
By RAYMOND KONGWA, Guardian Senior Reporter
Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez has confirmed that Daniel Smith’s father made a petition for his body to be exhumed and returned to Texas, but said such requests were granted only in “extenuating circumstances” .
Entertainment news portal TMZ.com reported Thursday, just hours before Daniel’s mother, Anna Nicole Smith, was buried next to him in a cemetery here, that lawyers for Billy Smith made the petition before the judge.
“He wants the body to be exhumed and sent back to Limestone, Texas,” Gomez said in an interview with the Guardian yesterday, adding: “No hearing for the petition has been set.”
Noting that such a request for exhumation was unlikely to be granted under ordinary circumstances, the judge said the court would consider the sanctity of burial when making a decision.
“There have to be very extenuating circumstances to permit a request for a body to be exhumed,” said Gomez. “We would be mindful not to unduly interfere with someone’s burial.”
If the court was minded to grant Smith’s wish to have his son buried in Limestone, Texas, it would not be until after the coroner’s inquest into Daniel’s death, Gomez explained.
The inquest is set down for hearing on March 26. The Chief Magistrate said he would likely preside over the inquest.
“Even if it was found Daniel’s body should be exhumed and sent to Texas, we wouldn’t allow that before the completion of the inquest,” he said. “There is the possibility that the coroner might order his body exhumed to help determine cause of death.”
Asked if the courts in The Bahamas had ever decided to exhume a body after a petition similar to that of Billy Smith’s, the judge said: “Its very, very rare that we get this kind of petition, especially by a civilian.”
The Chief Magistrate said as many as 40 witnesses were expected to testify at the inquest, including former Immigration Minister Shane Gibson, who visited Anna Nicole’s room at Doctor’s Hospital maternity ward the day (Sep.10) Daniel died in the same room. Anna Nicole’s partner Howard Stern will be the lead witness at the inquest.
Daniel was 20 when he died. A celebrity pathologist hired by Anna Nicole said Daniel died as a result of a lethal prescription drug cocktail.
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/national_local/335459933729899.php