Gerulaitis Killed by Gas Fumes : Tennis: Lethal levels of carbon monoxide from faulty propane heater installation cited.

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. —  Former tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis apparently died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, police said Monday night.

Gerulaitis, 40, appeared to have been overcome by the fumes from a “faulty propane heater installation” that seeped into the heating and air conditioning system of a friend’s home, Southampton Village police said.

Police said they did not know whether Gerulaitis was asleep at the time of the accident.

Investigators found “lethal levels” of the carbon monoxide inside the entire residence where Gerulaitis’ body was found Sunday afternoon. Police said there was no history of carbon monoxide trouble at the residence.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office did an autopsy Monday. The examiner said further toxicological tests were being done.

Gerulaitis’ body was found in the guest cottage of an oceanfront estate in this affluent Long Island town. He was lying on the bed, fully clothed. Police said there were no signs of drugs or crime.

Nancy Chaffee Whitaker, a former tennis star now married to ABC sportscaster Jack Whitaker, saw Gerulaitis the day before his body was found. He’d flown in from the West Coast late Friday night and arrived at the Racquet Club of East Hampton early the next morning for a charity tennis clinic.

Despite a sore back, a long trip and little sleep, Gerulaitis was in good spirits, she said. “He looked good. He didn’t look like he wasn’t feeling well or that something was wrong.”

When the clinic ended, she said, “He gave me a hug and said, ‘I’ll see you at 7,’ ” when a dinner at the club was scheduled.

But Gerulaitis did not show up at the dinner, and the following afternoon a servant who went to the guest cottage to make the bed found his body.

Gerulaitis’ host was developer Martin Raynes, a friend since both men were fixtures on the Manhattan party circuit in the ‘70s. Gerulaitis was a frequent guest at the cottage.