Former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith. AFP FILE PHOTO

Autopsy and toxicology reports will be withheld until the October 23 inquest when they will be introduced as evidence, Coroner Linda Virgill said at a news conference.

Daniel Smith was found dead early on Sunday, sitting upright in a chair in his mother's room at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, where the reality TV star and former centerfold model was recovering from the birth of a daughter.

The coroner described the death as "suspicious" because it was sudden and because of Daniel's age, but cautioned that the scheduling of an inquest did not necessarily mean foul play was suspected.

"Whenever we have sudden deaths, and we term them 'suspicious deaths,' it is usual to have this type of procedure," Virgill said. The death would be considered suspicious until jurors determine otherwise, she said.

Virgill said she had the results of the autopsy but not the toxicology tests, and would not reveal the contents of either report before the inquest for fear of tainting the Nassau jury pool. However, she said there were no external wounds to Daniel's body.

Depending on the toxicology results, the matter could be referred to the Supreme Court, she said.

Virgill said there was a third person in the hospital room with Daniel and his mother but did not disclose who it was.

She downplayed media reports saying Daniel's death was unnatural, adding such statements simply conveyed that it was unnatural for a man of 20 to die suddenly.

Anna Nicole Smith will be called to testify at the inquest, along with medical teams from Doctors Hospital, where Daniel Smith died, Princess Margaret Hospital, where the autopsy was carried out, and anyone who had contact with Daniel before his death, Virgill said.

The actress' attorney, Michael Scott, said his client was still in the Bahamas and would attend the inquest.

Scott criticized a local press report that claimed Daniel was using anti-depressants, calling it irresponsible speculation and highly prejudicial.

Anna Nicole Smith has been in the public eye since being named Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993.

In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Marshall Howard after meeting him at a strip club. His death 14 months later set off a legal battle over his estate between Smith and her husband's son, E. Pierce Marshall, who died in June.

In May, Anna Nicole won a US Supreme Court decision giving her another chance to collect millions of dollars.