Star Magazine and The National Enquirer have joined super tabloid forces and claim to have solved the mystery of Anna Nicole’s death. They say that Anna Nicole had a toxically high level of the old school sleeping medication chloral hydrate in her system when she died, but that no other drugs or methadone were found in the toxicology tests. Chloral hydrate has been around a long time, and can be inhaled or injected. That’s the stuff that’s put on handkerchiefs and held over victim’s mouths in the movies you’ve seen, and characters in the films House of Mirth and The Cider House Rules died from accidental overdoses of the inhaled form.

The flu-like illness that Anna suffered in the days leading up to her death was said to be sepsis caused from an infection on her buttock at the site of an injection with an unsterilized needle. If Anna had just gone to the hospital for treatment she could have been cured of the infection, which spread throughout her system and led to a blood infection. Instead she was just given an oral dose of Cipro along with some flu medication. Anna also contracted a stomach virus, which made her condition even more perilous.

Star and The Enquirer say that Anna’s frail health in combination with an overdose of the harsh sleeping medication is what led to her death. If she didn’t take the sleeping medication, the sepsis would have killed her anyway:

The ENQUIRER and Star have also learned that Anna Nicole had a raging blood infection. The infection was caused by an unsterilized needle and contributed to her death.

The infection was so serious, it would have killed her if she had not overdosed.

Contrary to speculation, tests show Anna Nicole did not have methadone or any other painkilling drug in her system at the time of her death.

The ENQUIRER learned that just before she left the Bahamas for Florida on February 5, three days before she died, Anna Nicole received an injection in her left buttock.

Tests did not reveal what that substance was.

“As she boarded the plane for Miami, Anna Nicole developed a painful abscess at the site of the injection,” said a source with knowledge of the case. “The needle wasn’t sterile. The pain kept getting worse as the abscess got larger and larger very quickly.”

From Miami, Anna Nicole and her live-in lawyer Howard K. Stern traveled to Hollywood, Fla. The pain from the abscess became excruciating and Anna Nicole developed a high fever.

By the time she got to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino her fever was 105.

Anna Nicole, unaware that her blood was being poisoned by infection, had also developed a second infection from a virulent form of norovirus, which causes intestinal problems.

It was at this point that Anna Nicole — and her entourage — made a fatal mistake. She refused to go to a hospital, a decision that would have saved her life.

Instead, Anna’s people gave her an ice bath to control the fever, administered the antibiotic ciprofloxacin by mouth and gave her an over-the-counter flu medicine.

As the needle-caused infection took over her body, she began vomiting, had severe diarrhea and could not urinate.

On February 6, a Tuesday, Anna spent the whole day in bed. She could not keep fluids down. She was becoming severely dehydrated.

On Wednesday, February 7, Anna seemed somewhat better, but she wasn’t, the source said.

“She was still vomiting and suffering diarrhea,” said the source. “Again, she spent the whole day in bed, as the abscess continued to grow. She was in such pain, she just wanted to sleep.”

And that’s when the final fatal mistake was made. Sometime overnight on February 7, Anna ingested the sleeping medication chloral hydrate. The drug is extremely potent. The dose was too much — and in fact it was a toxic level, the ENQUIRER and Star have learned exclusively. On Thursday, February 8, Anna never woke up.

We’ll see if The Enquirer and Star are right when the Broward County coroner makes an official announcement as to the cause of death on Monday as 10:30 a.m. EST. I guess this doesn’t rule out foul play and this case is going to remain as complicated as ever.