DUKE HEIR FOUND DEAD AT HOME.

Byline: Louinn Lota Associated Press 

Bernard Lafferty, the butler who inherited a fortune from tobacco heiress Doris Duke, then nearly lost it over allegations he murdered her, was discovered dead in his bed Monday.

Friends staying at the yellow Bel-Air Estates mansion he bought recently found the pony-tailed butler when they checked his room at about 5:30 a.m. Paramedics pronounced Lafferty dead an hour later, said Scott Carrier, a coroner's spokesman.

Lafferty spokeswoman Judy Miller said ``he had very high blood pressure,'' and apparently died of natural causes. Carrier said there was no sign of foul play.

The exact cause of death was not immediately determined by coroner's investigators, and no decision was made on whether an autopsy will be conducted, Carrier said.