Nation IN BRIEF : MARYLAND : Colby’s Death Is Ruled Accidental

Former CIA Director William E. Colby probably suffered a heart attack or stroke while he was out canoeing, and then fell into the water and died, the Maryland medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy found evidence that the former spymaster, 76, had suffered from hardening of the arteries, Chief Medical Examiner John Smialek said. The body was found after an eight-day search. Colby’s death was ruled accidental because despite evidence that he was ill before falling out of the canoe, in the final analysis it was the drowning and hypothermia that killed him, said Jeannette A. Duerr, a state health department spokeswoman.