Investigators began an autopsy Friday to help determine the cause of Anna Nicole Smith's death, according to the Broward County medical examiner's office.
There was no indication how long the autopsy would take. Police said they are planning a news conference at noon Friday.
If the exam determines she died of natural causes, the results should be released soon. If not, it could take weeks for tests to determine what killed the 39-year-old reality TV star, Playboy playmate and former Guess model.
Authorities investigating Smith's death retrieved a "large amount" of prescription medicine from her hotel room, law enforcement sources said. The sources did not characterize any of the drugs as illegal.
Smith died Thursday at a South Florida hospital after being discovered unconscious in her hotel room.
Her death came fewer than five months after the birth of her daughter and the death of her 20-year-old son.
One of two men involved in a paternity dispute over Smith's daughter is seeking a DNA sample, and a hearing also is set for Friday morning.
Smith checked into the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday with her lawyer and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern.
Smith's private nurse called hotel workers at 1:38 p.m. Friday, and security officials went to the room, Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said.
Before rescue workers arrived, Smith's bodyguard performed CPR on her, Tiger said. She was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where she was pronounced dead at 2:49 p.m.
Late Thursday, police told CNN the hotel room where Smith was found had been cleared. Police carried bags of evidence out of the building.
Smith's attorney, Ron Rale, told reporters his client had been suffering from flulike symptoms for the last couple of days.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rale said Smith had been sick for several days with a fever and was still depressed over the death of her son.
Meanwhile, "Entertainment Tonight's" Mark Steines, the last person to interview her, told CNN that Smith had to be placed in an ice bath Tuesday after her fever reached 105 degrees.
Her fever came down, Steines said, but on Wednesday she slipped and fell in the bathtub. When Stern and her nurse went to check on her, "she seemed a little bit out of it" but didn't appear to have suffered any significant injuries, Steines said.
"That led to yesterday," Steines said Friday, "when after taking a nap, I believe, she never came to and never woke up."
In a statement Thursday, Smith's sister, Donna Hogan, said: "We are saddened and heartbroken by my sister's death. No matter what our differences have been over the years, Anna was still our blood and she will be missed terribly.
"She was a woman who was determined to get out of her small town in Texas and make a name for herself."
Hogan went on to say that the death of Smith's son last year "left her deeply saddened, a sadness she hid from everyone." Dannielynn Hope "is now without a mother," Hogan wrote.
In September, Smith gave birth to Dannielynn Hope in the Bahamas. Her son, Daniel, was found dead in his mother's hospital room days later.
A life of celebrity and tribulations
Smith was known as much for her sometimes-turbulent life off-camera as she was for her show-business endeavors.
The former topless dancer in Houston, Texas, made her first appearance in Playboy in 1992, was named Playmate of the Year in 1993 and appeared in Guess jeans ads and movies.
In 2002, Smith launched a reality television program, "The Anna Nicole Show," on the E! Entertainment network. At one point, it was the network's highest-rated program.
She raised eyebrows in 1994 by marrying 89-year-old Texas oil magnate Howard Marshall II, who had an estate valued at $1.6 billion. He died the next year, and until her death Smith waged a legal battle over the inheritance that included a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
"It's way too early for me to even guess what's going to happen in terms of other claims on behalf of the child," said Rusty Hardin, a Houston attorney who represents the Marshall family.
Earlier this week, Smith was included in a class-action lawsuit against TrimSpa, a company for which she was a spokeswoman in commercials and ads touting her weight loss.
TrimSpa makes a product it claims leads to substantial weight loss. The lawsuit alleges the marketing of the product, TrimSpa X32, was false or misleading.
Smith also was embroiled in a dispute over the paternity of Dannielynn Hope.
Larry Birkhead, an entertainment reporter and photographer who has claimed to be the girl's father, will be filing an emergency order to obtain DNA samples to determine paternity, said his attorney, Debra Opri.
Smith and Stern have both said that Stern is Dannielynn's father. Stern has said the couple planned to marry, but it was unclear whether they had. (Full story)
Rale said he would be in court to oppose the DNA order. A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m.PT.
"On the instructions of the experts, we had to move in for a DNA order tomorrow morning, and we're going in for that," Opri said.
On news of Smith's death, Opri said Birkhead was "inconsolable." "He has lost the mother of his child, and he has lost a woman he loved very much," she said.
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