RICHLAND TWP, Allegheny County — A 48-year-old Butler County man found dead along a road early Saturday morning died of heart disease, authorities said.

A passing motorist found the body of Brian James Moore of Saxonburg just after midnight, lying in the 3600 block of Gibsonia Road in Richland Township.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:33 a.m. Saturday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. An autopsy later Saturday determined Moore died of natural causes.

An investigator with the medical examiner’s office said Moore suffered from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a condition in which artery walls thicken.

The condition can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

The Northern Regional Police Department investigated the death. Police referred all questions to Chief Bob Amann, who was out of the office today.

First-responders while heading to the scene reportedly suspected a pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle.

But the medical examiner’s investigator said there was apparently no other trauma on Moore’s body to suggest he had been hit by a vehicle.

A graduate of Deer Lakes High School and the Community College of Allegheny County, Moore was employed at Bio-Test Express in Gibsonia. The business is on Gibsonia Road, a block away from where he died.

Moore leaves behind a wife.

A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the North Street Christian Church on West North Street in Butler.

The Fox Funeral Home in Saxonburg is handling funeral arrangements.