Florida Millionaire Secretly Led 2 Lives ~Nimiwae~

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A millionaire road builder kept two families 30 kilometres apart - a double life discovered only after his first wife died.

Now, the lawyer representing the oldest son of Douglas (Diesel) Cone wants prosecutors to look into the March death of 75-year-old Jean Ann Cone, which was ruled an accidental inhalation of exhaust fumes in her garage. "My client has concerns other than the suspicious death of his mother," lawyer Norman Cannella told St. Petersburg Times. "These concerns do involve substantial financial assets."

Cannella, who represents Douglas Cone Jr., said he has not yet had a chance to meet Mark Ober, the state attorney for Hillsborough County. The state attorney's office declined to comment Wednesday. The senior Cone, 74, did not immediately return a message left at his Tampa office.

Cone, who built many of the area's highways, was married to socialite and philanthropist Jean Ann Cone for more than 50 years. They lived in a prestigious Tampa neighbourhood and sent their three children to the exclusive Berkeley Preparatory School, which named its library for Jean Ann Cone.

Hillary Carlson, a school trustee, and her husband Donald also sent their two children to the private school in the 1980s and 1990s. They paid for its baseball complex, known as Carlson field.

Donald Carlson never appeared at the school and his wife told friends her husband travelled often for a sensitive government job. The family lived in a secluded 27-hectare estate in north Hillsborough County.

Public records show no Donald Carlson associated with Hillary Carlson, but neighbours shown a picture of Douglas Cone knew him as "Don" and that he lived with Carlson, the Times reported.

Jean Ann Cone was found March 20 by her daughter, slumped behind the wheel of her Rolls Royce in a closed garage with the ignition in the on position. Daughter Julianne McKeel told police her mother had a habit of driving into the garage and closing the door before turning off the car's engine as a safety measure.

The medical examiner attributed the death to accidental car exhaust inhalation and reported her blood-alcohol level as 0.18, more than twice the legal driving limit.

Two weeks after her death, Donald Cone, 74, and Hillary Carlson, 56, married at the Sumter County courthouse.

In the past 11 years, Douglas Cone's company Cone & Graham has won more than $212 million US in state contracts, with projects that include the expansion of Interstate 4, the Suncoast Parkway and Gunn Highway.

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