ROSWELL, Ga., Aug. 9 -- Investigators Friday were looking for clues in the beating death of a black businessman who had been hailed by President Clinton as a rising entrepreneurial star. Computer consultant Lance Herndon was found dead Thursday at his upscale home in Roswell, Ga., just north of Atlanta.
Police said Herndon, 41, had died from blunt trauma to the head. Herndon gained fame after he formed Access, Inc., and rapidly built the computer specialty firm into a $3 million per year enterprise. Clinton had cited Herndon as an innovator and appointed him to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business. Police said there was no evidence of forced entry into Herndon's large gray mansion, from which he operated his company. It did not appear anything had been stolen, investigators said. Herndon's home was equipped with an elaborate security system but investigators did not know if the equipment was operating at the time of his death. A security guard who patrolled several homes in the area had gone off duty shortly before Herndon spoke with a friend on the telephone Wednesday evening. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had joined Roswell police to help conduct the probe into Herndon's death.
