Smith probed in murder plot

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By Matt Sedensky ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI

The FBI investigated whether Anna Nicole Smith plotted to kill her tycoon husband's son as they battled for his father's fortune, newly released files show, but the former Playboy Playmate, who died in 2007, was never prosecuted.

Smith's FBI records, obtained exclusively by Associated Press, say the agency investigated Smith in 2000 and 2001 in a murder-for-hire plot targeting E. Pierce Marshall, who was at the center of a long legal fight to keep the starlet, model and stripper from collecting his father's oil wealth, valued in the hundreds of millions. The younger Marshall died three years ago of natural causes.

The documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, depict an investigation going on as the fight raged over J. Howard Marshall II's estate. Vast sections of the 100 pages of released materials -- a fraction of Smith's full FBI file -- are whited out, and no evidence of her involvement in such a plot is detailed.

There is no indication how authorities became aware of any purported scheme, but agents interviewed Smith on July 3, 2000. Told why she was being questioned, "Smith began crying and denied ever making such plans," a report says.

Smith told agents that killing Pierce Marshall would not have made sense because her late husband's money still would be tied up in a trust and because she believed the court battle over the fortune was nearly over, the report states. She told agents she thought the story about the plot had been made up by a former lover angry that she had broken off their relationship, according to the files.

"Smith adamantly denied ever contemplating such a crime," an agent wrote, and prosecutors eventually agreed that the case could not go forward. An April 26, 2001, letter to the FBI from Sally Meloch, an assistant U.S. attorney, said she had reviewed the reports but "determined that there is insufficient evidence to establish that there was a murder-for-hire plot by Ms. Smith to kill Pierce Marshall."

Reached at her Los Angeles office on Tuesday, Miss Meloch didn't recall the case but said, "Any investigations that we didn't proceed with, we couldn't comment on anyway."

An attorney for Smith's estate, Kent Richland, said he was surprised by the claims.

"I have not heard anything about that," he said.

Smith was 26 when she wed the 89-year-old Marshall, owner of Great Northern Oil Co. His wealth was estimated by Forbes to be $550 million in 1992. They met while she was a topless dancer at a Texas strip club.

He died of natural causes in 1995, little more than a year after they married. His son died in 2006 at age 67 of an infection, and Smith died of a drug overdose a year later at age 39 after collapsing in her South Florida hotel room.

The FBI files show a .357-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver was confiscated from Smith's home, along with a 3 1/2-inch stainless steel knife and, for reasons that were not explained, a black-and-orange hat described as "Dr. Seuss." All three objects were returned to her about seven months later.

Agents reviewed tape recordings of phone calls involving Smith during their investigation, though transcripts were not included in the released materials. Among the items that were included were agents' scribblings in spiral-bound notebooks, accounts of Smith's past arrests for drunken driving and battery, and an interview of the younger Marshall.

In that June 27, 2000, interview, Marshall said Smith rarely spent time with his father after their 1994 marriage and said his father complained that she asked for $50,000 to $60,000 twice a week.

The dispute between Smith and the Marshall estate has bounced around courts for years.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2006 that Smith could pursue her late husband's fortune, overturning an appellate decision, which continues to be fought in California.