Bahamas police: No foul play in celebrated Florida interior designer’s death

Bahamas cops: No foul play in designer’s death

NASSAU, Bahamas — Police in the Bahamas said Tuesday they have ruled out foul play in the death of a South Florida interior designer whose elegant creations were popular with movie stars, models and fashion icons.

Superintendent Leon Bethel said authorities have determined what caused the death of J. Wallace Tutt III but were not yet prepared to make any public announcements, citing an ongoing probe.

On a Web site created in his memory, family and friends said the 53-year-old’s death appeared to be heart related. They said his partner, Don Purdy, found his body Saturday morning in a grassy area near his exclusive Harbour Island home.

Tutt made a name and a fortune designing and building lavish homes for the glitterati — late Italian designer Gianni Versace’s mansion in Miami Beach, and houses for Cher in Florida and California.

“He was a supremely talented man, whose boundless energy and ideas were realized in all areas of design,” says the Web site created by his family and friends.

Tutt moved to a private retreat near Harbour Island in 2002, where he transformed an old home into a nine-room luxury boutique hotel called the Rock House. Harbour Island is known for its 3-mile (2-kilometer) pink-sand beach.

Rock House staff said the hotel would be closed until Sunday.

Memorial services are being planned for Miami, the Bahamas, and Alabama. Tutt was born in Meridian, Mississippi, but grew up in rural Nanafalia, Alabama.

Online: Tutt’s memorial page: www.jwallacetutt.com/