How Tobacco Heiress Doris Duke Got Away With Coldblooded Murder, Twice

Duke's money continues to wield power long after her death

Olympic bronze medalist Sam Kahanamoku, Doris Duke, Duke’s first husband James Cromwell, and musician Chick Daniels, Waikiki, 1935–37 (Public domain)

It was a brisk fall day when 13–year-old paperboy Bobby Walker peddled his bike to the service gate of tobacco heiress Doris Duke's mansion Rough Point to deliver The Newport Daily News. The boy heard a commotion over by the main entrance, a short distance away. Two people, a man, and a woman, were arguing, screaming at each other. It sounded serious. It was deadly.

In an interview with journalist Peter Lance, author of Homicide at Rough Point, Walker, now 68, recalled the events of October 6, 1966. He first heard the raised voices as he approached the gate to deliver the paper.

"And the next thing I heard was the roar of a motor, the crash, the screaming of a man, ever so slight skidding sound and deacceleration of the motor, a pause in the screaming, a man beginning to scream again, the roar of the motor again, the man's scream turning to horror: 'Nooooooo!'"

Then, Walker said, he heard a second crash. The boy rushed over to the main gate to see if he could help.

Doris Duke, 53, one of the world's richest women, was standing beside the wreckage of a rented station wagon. Walker says he could not see her companion, designer and…