Former tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis was killed when a broken propane heater filled the cottage where he was staying with so much carbon monoxide that investigators had to retreat for gas masks, authorities said Tuesday.
Gerulaitis, 40, was found dead Sunday afternoon. Tests showed “between 72 and 77 percent of his blood was saturated with carbon monoxide-extremely, extremely high levels,” said Norma Dill, assistant to the chief medical examiner.
Police said the fumes seeped into the heating and air conditioning system of the cottage, which sits near the beach on an estate in this affluent Long Island community.
The Suffolk County medical examiner found carbon monoxide traces during an autopsy Monday. Investigators then returned to the house and recorded carbon monoxide levels that were described as “off the scale.”
Detective Sgt. David Betts said it was not clear if Gerulaitis was asleep when fumes swept through the house or how long he had been dead. When a servant entered the cottage Sunday afternoon, the television was on and Gerulaitis was still wearing clothes he’d worn Saturday morning at a tennis clinic.
