The late actress and model, Anna Nicole Smith, a guest at the premiere party for the comedy 'Be Cool', in this February 14, 2005 file photo. The former 'Playboy' playmate died on Thursday. - Reuters

(AP):

The locks at the Bahamas mansion where Anna Nicole Smith had been living were changed for the second time in 24 hours on Saturday as an ownership dispute heated up between her estate and a United States (U.S.) developer who had a brief relationship with her.

Outside the gated mansion in Nassau, Bahamas, Smith's attorney, Wayne Munroe, told reporters he had retaken possession of the estate and filed a robbery complaint with police over computer equipment and other personal effects allegedly taken out.

Earlier on Saturday, the attorney for a U.S. developer, who also claims ownership of the waterfront mansion, said he had the locks changed on Friday, put a chain on the gate and had taken control of the residence on behalf of his client.

The South Carolina developer, G. Ben Thompson, had a brief relationship with Smith and was embroiled in an ownership dispute with the 39-year-old former Playboy playmate before she died on Thursday in Florida.

Smith had claimed that Thompson bought her the house as a gift.

House on loan

Thompson's attorney, Godfrey Pinder, has said the house was on loan to Smith. He said Smith's death meant her claims to the mansion were no longer legitimate.

Munroe, standing beside Pinder outside the home as he spoke, said the former Playboy playmate bought the mansion in July for $900,000. Her ownership of the home was the basis of Smith's claim to residency in the Bahamas. Smith had filed a lawsuit asking a Bahamas court to recognise her purchase and reject Thompson's claim to the house.

The Bahamas Supreme Court has scheduled a February 26 hearing on the matter, Munroe said.

The cause of Smith's death has not yet been determined. Broward County medical examiner, Dr. Joshua Perper, who performed an autopsy on Friday, said afterward it could take weeks to determine why she died. He said no illegal drugs were discovered in Smith's room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, where she collapsed. But prescription drugs were found.

Smith's five-month-old baby, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, was not with Smith when she died and is believed to be in the Bahamas. But the exact whereabouts of the baby, who is at the centre of a broadening custody battle, were unknown Saturday.