Anna Nicole Smith is Dead

Anna Nicole Smith Dies in Florida at 39
By SUZETTE LABOY, Associated Press Writer

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Anna Nicole Smith, the pneumatic blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale _ Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother _ died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.
She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday.
Just five months ago, Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, died suddenly in the Bahamas in what was believed to be a drug-related death.
Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said a private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room at the hotel, which is on an Indian reservation. He said Smith's bodyguard administered CPR, but she was declared dead at a hospital.
Dr. Joshua Perper, the chief Broward County medical examiner who will perform the autopsy, said if her death was from natural causes, the findings would likely be announced quickly. He cautioned, however, that definitive results could take weeks.
"I am not a prophet, and I cannot tell you before the autopsy what I am going to find," he said.
Through the '90s and into the new century, Smith was famous for being famous, a pop-culture punchline because of her up-and-down weight, her Marilyn Monroe looks, her exaggerated curves, her little-girl voice, her ditzy-blonde persona, and her over-the-top revealing outfits.
Recently, she lost a reported 69 pounds and became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement. On her reality show and other recent TV appearances, her speech was often slurred and she seemed out of it. Some critics said she seemed drugged-out.
"Undoubtedly it will be found at the end of the day that drugs featured in her death as they did in the death of poor Daniel," said a former attorney for Smith in the Bahamas, Michael Scott.
Another former Smith attorney, Lenard Leeds, told the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ that Smith "always had problems with her weight going up and down, and there's no question she used alcohol." Leeds said it was no secret that "she had a very troubled life" and had "so many, many problems."
Smith attorney Ron Rale told The Associated Press that he had talked to her on Tuesday or Wednesday, and she had flu symptoms and a fever and was still grieving over her son.
"Poor Anna Nicole," he said. "She's been the underdog. She's been besieged ... and she's been trying her best and nobody should have to endure what she's endured."
The Texas-born Smith was a topless dancer at strip club before she entered her photos in a search contest and made the cover of Playboy magazine in 1992. She became Playboy's playmate of the year in 1993. She was also signed to a contract with Guess jeans, appearing in TV commercials, billboards and magazine ads.
In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, owner of Great Northern Oil Co. In 1992, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $550 million.
In a 2005 interview with ABC, Smith recalled meeting Marshall at what she called a "gentleman's club' in Houston. "He had no will to live and I went over to see him," she said. "He got a little twinkle in his eyes, and he asked me to dance for him. And I did."
Marshall died in 1995 at age 90, setting off a feud with Smith's former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, over his estate. A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million. That was later overturned. But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she deserved another day in court.
The stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would continue.
Smith starred in her own reality TV series, "The Anna Nicole Show," in 2002-04. Cameras followed her around as she sparred with her lawyer, hung out with her personal assistant and interior decorator, and cooed at her poodle, Sugar Pie. She also appeared in movies, performing a bit part in "The Hudsucker Proxy" in 1994.
After news came of Smith's death, G. Eric Brunstad Jr., the lawyer who represented Marshall, said in a statement: "We're very shocked by the news and extend the deepest condolences to her family."
In a statement, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said: "I am very saddened to learn about Anna Nicole's passing. She was a dear friend who meant a great deal to the Playboy family and to me personally."
Smith's son died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas, just days after she gave birth to a daughter.
An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he died accidentally of a combination of methadone and two antidepressants. Last month, a Bahamas magistrate scheduled a formal inquiry into the death for March 27.
Meanwhile, the paternity of Smith's now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of dispute. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K. Stern, Smith's most recent companion. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was waging a legal challenge, saying he was the father.
Debra Opri, the attorney who filed his paternity suit, said Birkhead "is devastated. He is inconsolable, and we are taking steps now to protect the DNA testing of the child. The child is our No. 1 priority."
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six children. Her parents split up when she was a toddler, and she was raised by her mother, a deputy sheriff.
She dropped out after 11th grade after she was expelled for fighting, and worked as a waitress and then a cook at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken restaurant in Mexia.
She married 16-year-old fry cook Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two years later.
___

DJ Tommy Ryan Sucks

Baltimore Crime: January 31

I cannot believe that the Sky Lounge is allowing the murderer to play. DJ Tommy Ryan is an embarrasment to the Baltimore music scene!!! He needs to get out of Baltimore and move on to another city. Hopefully he has learned his lesson and won't strangle any more of his girlfriends!!!

Jah Works on Thursday!

"Come see Jah Works before they head off to the middle east to entertain the troops!!!

Thursday Jan. 18 @ the 13th floor Belvedere Hotel
one east Chase St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
10 PM"

Perhaps this is the plan for Thursday night:) Sounds fun! I ♥ Jah Works:)

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Man, 29, acquitted in killing of woman
Judge delivers verdict, complaining from bench that police investigation of case was insufficient
By Julie Bykowicz
sun reporter

A disc jockey accused of strangling his girlfriend was acquitted yesterday after a trial that stuck on the question of whether the woman committed suicide.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Paul E. Alpert, who decided the case, complained from the bench that the city police investigation was not thorough enough for him to be certain what happened to Anuradha Ramasamy.

Thomas Ryan Jr., 29, who worked in several popular city clubs, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ramasamy, a 26-year-old graphic designer known to her friends as Anu.

A couple for three years, Ryan and Ramasamy were staples of Baltimore nightlife and had a large network of friends on the online community MySpace.

At a homecoming yesterday evening at a friend's house, Ryan said he could now begin the grieving process -- something he said he was unable to do during his seven months in jail.

He said he has thought about Ramasamy "every second of every day." He said he now wants to pick up the pieces of his life."The truth being known is just as important as the not-guilty verdict," Ryan said. "I will not be able to fully move on with my life unless the truth is known."

Ryan says he found his girlfriend's body, a curling iron cord wrapped around her neck, hanging from a bedroom ceiling fan May 28 in her Remington apartment. He told police he pulled her down and ran to call for help. Police and prosecutors alleged that Ryan strangled Ramasamy a day after they'd had a fight and concocted the suicide story. The cord was looped twice and knotted around Ramasamy's neck, and officers found the curling iron barrel and a pull-chain from the fan near her body on the bed.

A detective testified that he suspected right away that Ryan had killed Ramasamy.Just before he announced his verdict, Alpert said Ryan "may have strangled her, but I can't convict someone on what might have happened."Alpert, a judge for 34 years, said he was "somewhat surprised there was not a more thorough investigation of the ceiling fan and cord." He said the evidence presented had left him with many unanswered questions -- enough that he felt the case was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

City police spokesman Matt Jablow disputed the judge's comments. "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with Judge Alpert. This case was thoroughly and professionally investigated, and a strong case was presented," Jablow said. "Even after the verdict, the prosecutor in the case told our detectives that we did everything that we possibly could to obtain a conviction.""We are extremely surprised and disappointed that Judge Alpert would completely discount the physical evidence in the case and the medical examiner's report and testimony," he said.

The three-day trial hinged on whether Ryan's statement to police was medically possible, given the condition of the body. The state medical examiner ruled Ramasamy's death a homicide, but a defense expert, Washington's former chief medical examiner, testified that the death was a suicide.The state autopsy showed that Ramasamy had high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine. Ryan, who elected to have a judge rather than a jury decide his case, took the stand twice in his own defense. He testified during a pretrial hearing about a taped statement he gave police, and again Monday about finding his girlfriend's body. Ryan testified that he and Ramasamy had snorted cocaine early May 27.

Yesterday, Alpert said he had been "impressed with the candor" of Ryan. Alpert also said Ryan's alibi witnesses, who had accounted for his whereabouts, were believable. The verdict triggered a wave of emotions in a courtroom packed with the couple's friends. Ryan's friend, Samantha Wales, wept in relief; Ramasamy's friend, Colleen K. Broersma, put on dark sunglasses and left the courtroom. Both women had testified. Broersma was the last person to have a phone conversation with Ramasamy, helping to establish her time of death. Wales had been Ryan's main alibi witness.

Baltimore Crime

I hate to start my first new blog with a downer, however after reading the Baltimore Crime blog for months now, I have decided to create a blog. I am in shock after hearing the verdict on Anu's trial. I cannot believe he is free. It seems to me that a curling iron & an old ceiling fan could not hold her weight. See below links.

http://baltimorecrime.blogspot.com/2007/01/this-just-in.html

Baltimore Sun
Article Posted Jan 8, 2007

Trial to begin in death of woman
Man charged with killing girlfriend

by Julie Bykowicz

They made for a striking young couple - the white hip-hop DJ and the fashionable Indian woman who loved to dance. They had friends at nightclubs across Baltimore and on the online community MySpace, where they both posted party photos and clever descriptions of themselves. The three-year relationship of Thomas Ryan Jr., known as DJ Tommy Ryan, and Anuradha Ramasamy - Anu to her friends - had its ups and downs. They shared an apartment in Remington, but Ryan moved out when they broke up early last year. Months later, they reconciled and were again attending parties together.

On May 28, 2006, a day after another argument, Ryan found 26-year-old Ramasamy dead in her apartment, a curling iron cord wrapped around her neck. Ryan says that the cord was strung through a ceiling fan in her bedroom, that he pulled her body down, that it was a suicide. Within about a week, Ryan was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

The trial, which Ryan chose to be heard by a judge instead of a jury, is set to begin today in Baltimore Circuit Court. The case, it appears from court documents, will hinge upon whether Ryan's story about how he found his girlfriend's body is true - or whether it's a cover for a killing.

At a pretrial hearing Friday, Ryan, 29, took the witness stand and told how, after finding the body, he had run out of the apartment and asked a neighbor to call 911."I was hysterical," he said. "I had a complete breakdown from what I saw."

To police and Assistant State's Attorney Brian Fish, the trial prosecutor, the medical examiner's report, which calls Ramasamy's death a homicide and says the condition of her body did not match up with Ryan's story, is convincing evidence. Ryan's defense attorney says he plans to call "expert witnesses concerning the suicide." His attorney says he also plans to call alibi witnesses for Ryan.

Other details from the autopsy and the crime scene, such as a profane phrase scratched into Ramasamy's forearm, drugs in her system and a note left behind, are a mystery for now. A graphic artist, Ramasamy designed Web sites, including one for Eden's Lounge, a Mount Vernon club where Ryan worked. Her MySpace profile says she is a college graduate and lists Malaysia, Louisiana and Baltimore as her "hometowns.""I love my family, friends, and animals. And I wanna be a star. Any questions, meet me on the dancefloor," she wrote on the site.

In interviews shortly after Ryan was arrested and after his court appearance last fall, some of her friends said they did not want to talk. But they spoke briefly of Ramasamy's sparkling personality and confirmed she authored the MySpace page. Since her death, the page has become a tribute, with her friends still posting messages to her almost every day. One of her best friends, Colleen K. Broersma, wrote in a statement e-mailed this weekend to a reporter, "While her loss is still devastating to so many, I know how fortunate I was to have her in my life. I don't think any words I could say would ever do her justice. She was like a sister to me. And I miss her."

Ryan was a chef and the Saturday night DJ at Eden's Lounge. The Pennsylvania native has an associate's degree from the Baltimore International College School of Culinary Arts, according to his police statement. He also spun at Sky Lounge, a Federal Hill club popular with break dancers, and on Sundays at Good Love Bar in Canton. His friend Andrew T. Stephenson, who has known him for about seven years, said Ryan's "life was music." "He's a fantastic person - very outgoing," Stephenson said yesterday. "Everybody loved Tommy. He was the life of the party. He was always happy to see you. He always had a good time and always had a good story to tell you."

Like Ramasamy, Ryan had a MySpace profile. In the days after her death, friends posted supportive messages of condolence. When he was arrested, the messages became angry and profane. The profile has since been switched to a private mode.

Ryan's attorney, Stephen R. Tully, said Ryan has maintained contact with many friends, who have helped him cope. Since his June 5 arrest, he has been held without bail." He has the horrendous experience of being in Baltimore City jail," Tully said. "He is suffering as a result of the loss [of his girlfriend] and from being in jail. He has never been locked up before.

"In an interview at Baltimore police headquarters the day he found his girlfriend's body, Ryan gave his account of Ramasamy's last day. The transcript notes that he cried as he gave his statement. He told police, according to a transcript of the interview in the court file, that they'd had an argument, even though they had recently begun dating again after two months apart."

It started just about us getting back together, starting some silly relationship stuff," he told police about the argument. About 9 a.m. May 27, he said, "I left, and that was the last time."

The two exchanged phone messages throughout the day, he told police. About midnight May 28, Ramasamy left him one, he told police, and he called her back at 4 a.m. and several times after that. By that afternoon, he told police, he was worried enough to go to her apartment. He used his keys to get inside, he told police. Two female friends that he had called arrived at Ramasamy's apartment moments later, but after Ryan had found the body.

Detectives asked about Ramasamy's personality. He told them that "she gets depressed every now and then" and that "she tears herself up pretty good with her problems." But, he said, he never suspected she would kill herself. Police say she didn't.

The medical examiner's report shows the 5-foot-6-inch woman had two parallel cord marks around her neck and that her blood had settled in the front of her body. Those findings, the medical examiner wrote, are inconsistent with someone who died hanging upright. But the report also notes the presence of alcohol and cocaine. And the report includes a photograph of the profane phrase that was scratched into the inside of her left forearm.

A police report notes that Ramasamy's apartment was in disarray when her body was found and that a mirrored mannequin lay broken on the dining room floor. Pieces were found near Ramasamy's body, the report states. Another mystery is a handwritten digressive poem of sorts found in Ramasamy's apartment. A copy of it is in the court file. It begins:"My track is long, steady ... Don't stab me with your blunt knife. I decide the cut that bleeds ... "Later: "My heart weighs a ton of bricks, Love is dead done."

At Friday's pretrial hearing, friends of Ryan sat together with his parents behind the defense table. Ramasamy's relatives and friends sat in another section. The hearing was to determine whether Ryan's tape-recorded statement to police was given voluntarily. Police did not read him his Miranda rights because, one homicide detective testified, the death was thought to be a suicide. Homicide detectives also investigate suicides. Ryan testified that he did voluntarily talk to police. But immediately after giving them a taped statement, he said, one detective "started accusing him" and told him he could not leave police headquarters. He was not arrested and left that evening. Circuit Judge Paul E. Alpert ruled the statement is admissible. Testimony is to begin today.

Another article posted on Jan 9, 2007

Trial opens in murder case
By Julie Bykowicz

The trial began yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court for a Baltimore DJ accused of strangling his girlfriend with a curling iron cord.

Thomas Ryan Jr., 29, found his 26-year-old girlfriend's body inside her Remington apartment on May 28. He told police he had pulled Anuradha Ramasamy's body down after he saw her hanging from a ceiling fan.

The trial hinges on whether it is medically possible that Ramasamy killed herself, or whether Ryan devised his story to cover up a killing.

He is charged with first-degree murder.

In his opening statement yesterday, Assistant State's Attorney Brian Fish said Ryan "created an alibi so that he would be charged with nothing." Ryan's attorney Stephen R. Tully, in his opening, said Ramasamy's death was a tragedy, "not a murder."

The couple had been dating about three years and had a large social network at popular local clubs, where Ryan worked, and on the online community MySpace. They had broken up for two months last spring but had resumed dating about a week before Ramasamy's death.
Ryan told police he was at Ramasamy's apartment until the morning of May 27, when he left after an argument. That appears to be the last time anyone saw her alive.

The last person to speak with Ramasamy, her friend Colleen K. Broersma, testified yesterday that the two women had a telephone conversation about 1:30 p.m. May 27.

A witness for the defense, Ryan's friend and roommate Samantha Wales, testified that he was at their home - and in her sight almost the entire time - from 10 a.m. May 27, through the early-morning hours of May 28.

The medical examiner testified that the condition of Ramasamy's body indicated she died 24 to 36 hours before the first medical examination of her at 4:45 p.m. May 28.

The examiner also testified that it was "impossible" that Ramasamy's body had been positioned the way Ryan said he found it. He said the woman's blood had pooled in a way consistent with a body that had been lying facedown. He ruled the death a homicide.

Testimony was scheduled to continue today before Circuit Judge Paul E. Alpert. Ryan elected to have a judge rather than a jury decide his case. That decision has streamlined the trial, which the attorneys said might conclude this afternoon.