The coffin holding Anna Nicole Smith's body was today flown on a private flight to the Bahamas for her funeral after weeks of legal wrangling.
Authorities escorted the hearse to Miami International Airport early in the morning as news helicopters tracked the procession from the Broward County medical examiner's office in Fort Lauderdale.
The plane was to leave in time to get the body to the Bahamian capital of Nassau for a burial later in the morning.
But the funeral might not mean the end of the saga: Smith's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, will likely try to get the body out of the Bahamas, said her lawyer.
"We are not exactly sure what shape it [the legal action] is going to be," he said yesterday, just hours after saying Ms Arthur had decided to drop her legal challenges in Florida courts.
Ms Arthur; Smith's boyfriend Howard K Stern; and ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead will temporarily put aside their differences to attend the funeral services. Ms Arthur had wanted to bury Anna Nicole in her native Texas, and fought last week's ruling from Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin.
The judge gave control of the body to Richard Milstein, the court-appointed advocate for Anna Nicole's five-month-old daughter Dannielynn.
Mr Stern insisted the former Playboyplaymate wanted to be buried next to Daniel, who died of apparent drug-related causes last year. Mr Milstein agreed.
On Wednesday, a Florida appeals court upheld Judge Seidlin's ruling.
AP