Las Vegas Woman’s Death Still a Mystery : Crime: A suspect in a $1.8- million Brinks robbery, she was found dead in Mexico. Two autopsies have been done, and more tests are planned

LAS VEGAS —  Authorities may never be able to determine what caused the death of a former dancer and model who died penniless in Mexico, weeks after she was involved in the heist of a Brinks armored car carrying $1.8 million.

Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said laboratory tests are planned as a follow-up to an autopsy conducted here Thursday on the body of Misty Leann Smith, the daughter of a former police officer who was found dead Sept. 5 in Puerto Vallarta.

“We may never know the cause of her death,” Las Vegas Metro Police Sgt. Ken Hefner said Friday.

Flud concurred, saying the time elapsed between her death and the autopsy here, plus the fact a previous autopsy had been conducted by Mexican authorities, might preclude local authorities from ever knowing what killed Smith.

He declined to speculate on the cause of death, or reports that she had died of an insulin injection. Mexican authorities conducted an autopsy Sept. 7 and ruled that dehydration was the cause of death.

The victim’s mother, Judy Smith, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that police and the FBI “feel that Misty was murdered, from an overdose of insulin that was forced upon her.”

Judy Smith said her daughter’s body also showed signs of trauma, contradicting reports by Mexican authorities. Flud declined to say whether such signs were found.

Smith, 23, and her boyfriend, Anthony Frisco, 29, were indicted Aug. 30 on charges of robbery and car theft in connection with the Aug. 9 theft of the Brinks vehicle and $1.8 million in cash.

Frisco was arrested by customs agents in San Juan, Puerto Rico Aug. 29 while carrying $1.56 million in cash. Efforts are being made to extradite him to Las Vegas.