He could have been a $19 million hobo.
The twisted saga of reclusive New York railroad heiress Huguette Clark took another bizarre turn yesterday when a long-lost heir — described as a transient man who potentially stood to get a whopping piece of her massive fortune — turned up dead under a Wyoming train overpass, authorities said.
The body of Timothy Henry Gray, 60, was found by kids sledding near a Union Pacific Railroad span in the small town of Evanston, police there said yesterday.
The “homeless” Gray, who was wearing a light jacket in 10-degree weather, died of hypothermia.
There was no sign of foul play, police told NBC News, which first reported the death.
Gray had a cashier’s check, dating back to 2003, for “a significant amount” in his wallet when he was found, according to the coroner.
He was the adopted great-grandson of former Sen. William Andrews Clark, a copper and railroad baron who founded Las Vegas and was Huguette Clark’s father.
Gray — who was Huguette’s half-great-nephew — had worked as a cowboy in the Rockies, reportedly had no children or wife and lost touch with his siblings decades ago, relatives said.
“He was homeless, essentially,” his brother Jerry said.
Lt. Jeffers said it wasn’t clear if Gray had been living among transients that often camp under the overpass.
Huguette Clark was 104 when she died in 2011 at Beth Israel Hospital, leaving behind an estate of more than $300 million, mostly to doctors, nurses, a doctor and a lawyer.
She had forked over millions to live at the hospital an eyebrow-raising two decades, as her massive mansions in Connecticut and California — as well as a sprawling, 42-room, three-unit Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park — sat unused.
The mysterious, child-like Clark left most of her money to her doctors, nurses, lawyer and accountant, as well as a museum and an art foundation she wanted set up in her memory.
A court-appointed trustee overseeing Clark’s estate has argued the old woman was manipulated into signing over her assets and is trying to get beneficiaries to relinquish the gifts.
Clark’s will is being hotly contested by 19 family members, who were left nothing and sued. A public administrator stepped in on Gray’s behalf, according to NBC. But when lawyers tried to locate Gray to let him know he might get a pre-tax windfall of $19 million if the family prevails, they found his belongings abandoned in a storage locker.