Former San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner has publicly detailed disturbing images and communications he received in the hours after Aldon Smith’s sudden death, expressing skepticism about the circumstances and directly urging the late player’s family and their legal team to contact two former teammates for answers.
Smith, 36, was found unresponsive on June 13 in the passenger seat of a vehicle owned by Amir Shirazi in the Bay Area. Shirazi reported that he and Smith had spent the morning delivering pizzas to a homeless charity, ran errands, and returned to Shirazi’s home. According to Shirazi, Smith appeared fine about an hour before he was discovered slumped over after Shirazi briefly went inside. Smith was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital. No official cause of death has been released, toxicology results are pending, and early reports indicated no apparent foul play or public safety threat.
Whitner, who played with Smith on the 49ers’ strong defenses of the early 2010s, broke his silence on The Grit Code Podcast, describing a flood of texts, calls, and FaceTimes from ex-teammates on the day of the death. One stood out as particularly jarring.
Whitner’s Account of the Images and Calls
“C.J. Spillman called me. Six a.m. Bali time. And he put me on FaceTime, and he was showing me pictures of Aldon slumped over in the front seat. Aldon, laying on the ground in front of the vehicle that he was traveling in … with all the shit hooked up to his body, pretty much deceased,” Whitner said.
He expressed revulsion not just at the graphic content but at how quickly and widely it circulated among former players.
“Why the f*ck do you have these pictures? Who the f*ck is taking these pictures?” Whitner recalled thinking. “And then you see Anthony Davis … in there, you see everybody else in the EMS, and [Aldon] laying on the ground is fucking disgusting.”
Whitner said the images — showing Smith in the vehicle and then on the ground surrounded by emergency responders — left him traumatized.
“I had nightmares two nights in a row after seeing those videos and pictures,” he added. “It broke my heart. I really didn’t want to even speak on the subject, but I have to. I have to tell the truth. I have to say what I saw because it’s traumatizing.”
Smith’s family has already retained a team of lawyers and private investigators to independently examine the circumstances. Whitner used the platform to give them specific names.
“First and foremost, C.J. Spillman should have a lot of answers for you. And Anthony Davis as well,” Whitner said. “Anthony Davis was in the pictures, looking over Aldon. So I want to say that he probably didn’t have anything to do with it, but whoever was there, they had something to do with it.”
Spillman (a safety who played for the 49ers from 2010–2013) is the one who initiated the FaceTime and shared the images. Davis (an offensive tackle who played for San Francisco from 2010–2014 and in 2016) appears in the photos. Whitner stopped short of accusing anyone of causing Smith’s death but clearly signaled that he believes those present at the scene possess critical information that has not yet surfaced publicly.
Whitner framed his remarks around loyalty and truth-telling rather than outright conspiracy. He repeatedly referred to Smith as “our brother” and an “extremely, extremely talented football player” and “a human being.” His anger appeared focused on the handling of the scene — the rapid circulation of graphic photos among peers and the apparent disconnect between Shirazi’s public account of a routine day ending in tragedy and the presence of other former 49ers players in the immediate aftermath.
The phrase “whoever was there, they had something to do with it” is deliberately broad. It could mean the individuals present witnessed key events, participated in activities leading up to Smith becoming unresponsive, or possess knowledge that contradicts or expands upon the initial narrative. Whitner did not claim to know the medical cause; his comments center on transparency and accountability in the human story surrounding the death.
Several angles remain unresolved:
- Timeline discrepancies: How do the movements and presence of Spillman, Davis, or others align with Shirazi’s account?
- Scene documentation: Why were graphic photos taken and immediately shared rather than preserved solely for official investigators?
- Medical cause: Toxicology and autopsy findings will clarify whether this was a natural medical event, substance-related, or something else. Even a “natural” finding would not automatically resolve questions about events or decisions made beforehand.
- Player welfare: The case inevitably revives conversations about post-career support, mental health, substance abuse recovery, and the long-term effects of a high-impact NFL career.
Whitner’s comments do not prove criminal foul play. They do, however, introduce credible doubt about whether the full story has been told and whether everyone with relevant knowledge has been forthcoming. In a situation where a young former star dies suddenly and images of his body are circulating among peers before many family members or the public even know what happened, that skepticism is understandable — and, to Whitner, necessary.
