The former 49ers safety went public with what he witnessed in the hours after Smith’s death
Former San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner has come forward publicly with what he says he witnessed in the hours after Aldon Smith’s death, directing the family’s legal team toward two former teammates he believes can provide answers about what happened.
Smith, a former 49ers defensive end, was found unresponsive on June 13 in the passenger seat of a vehicle belonging to Amir Shirazi. He was 36 years old. Shirazi told the San Francisco Chronicle that Smith appeared fine approximately an hour before his death and speculated that he died of natural causes while Shirazi was briefly inside his house. A toxicology report has not yet been released.
Smith’s family has since retained a team of lawyers and private investigators to examine the circumstances surrounding his passing.
What Whitner said and why
Speaking on The Grit Code Podcast, Whitner described receiving text messages, phone calls, and video calls from former teammates in the hours following Smith’s death. He said the content of those communications disturbed him deeply and that he had experienced nightmares for two consecutive nights after seeing the images.
Whitner said he received a FaceTime call from former 49ers safety C.J. Spillman, in which Spillman showed him images of Smith unresponsive in the front seat of a vehicle and then on the ground outside the vehicle surrounded by emergency medical personnel. Whitner said he was troubled not only by the images themselves but by the fact that someone had taken photographs at all and that those images were being circulated among former teammates.
He directed his comments specifically to Smith’s family and their legal team, urging them to contact Spillman and former 49ers offensive tackle Anthony Dixon, whom Whitner said appeared in the images.
Whitner said he believed Davis was probably not responsible for anything that occurred but that the people who were present at the scene when Smith died had some level of involvement in what happened. He stopped short of making specific accusations and acknowledged the distinction between what he could see in the images and what he actually knew.
Who the two men are
Spillman played for the 49ers from 2010 through 2013, overlapping with Smith’s first three seasons in San Francisco. Davis played for the franchise from 2010 through 2014 and returned for the 2016 season. Both were part of the 49ers teams that reached Super Bowl XLVII following the 2012 season.
Whitner played alongside Smith from 2011 through 2013 and described their relationship as that of brothers. He said he had not intended to speak publicly about the circumstances of Smith’s death but felt he had an obligation to share what he witnessed.
What remains unresolved
The official account of Smith’s final hours comes from Shirazi, who said the two had spent the morning delivering food to a homeless shelter before running errands and returning to Shirazi’s home. Shirazi said he stepped inside briefly and returned to find Smith unresponsive.
Whitner’s account does not directly contradict that timeline but raises questions about what occurred at or near the scene and why photographs of Smith in a medical emergency were being shared among former players within hours of his death.
The toxicology report, once released, will provide the most definitive information available about the cause of Smith’s death. Until then, the investigation by the family’s legal team and the questions Whitner has raised publicly remain open.