The death of Bob Saget has taken a mysterious turn.
On January 9, 2022, the comedy world was devastated by the announcement that comedian
Bob Saget had died unexpectedly at the age of 65. He was found dead at the Ritz-Carlton
Orlando, Grande Lake hotel following several stand-up comedy performances.
Saget was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1956
and was best known to audiences for his portrayal of Danny Tanner on the sitcom "Full House" and
its subsequent follow-up "Fuller House." He was also the first to host the long-running
series "America's Funniest Home Videos." Saget became known for his raunchy stand-up,
which contrasted with the clean, family-friendly appearances he was known for on television.
"I wanna start by apologizing for the way that I speak. Again, it is shock value,
it is a persona, from all that family s— that I did, and you–"
At the time of his death, the Saget family released a statement, which read in part:
"He was everything to us, and we want you to know how much he loved his fans, performing live and
bringing people from all walks of life together with laughter. Though we ask for privacy at this
time, we invite you to join us in remembering the love and laughter that Bob brought to the world."
When news of Bob Saget's death first broke,
details of the hotel room scene were quickly reported.
"He doesn't have a pulse. He's not moving. He's not breathing,
and he's pale." "Okay. Do you know how long he's been that way?"
According to the Daily Mail, the comedian was found lying in his hotel bed face up
with his left arm across his chest. He was reportedly cold to the touch by the time the
hotel security staff and Orange County Sheriff Deputies arrived at his room. These details led
to initial speculation that Saget had died in his sleep after suffering a heart attack.
TMZ even reported a week after his death that heart attacks run in the Saget family.
Additionally, in the weeks leading up to his death, Saget revealed that he had recently
dealt with a bout of COVID-19. While it was unclear when Saget was infected with the virus,
he mentioned during an appearance on the Orlando-based podcast
​​"A Corporate Time with Tom & Dan" that he dealt with the Omicron variant of the virus,
which only appeared in November 2021, two months before his death.
While speculation remained primarily on the heart attack angle as the comedian's
cause of death for about a month after his passing, the release of Saget's autopsy
report completely shifted the direction of the story with a bombshell piece of information.
Just over a month after his passing, Bob Saget's family released a statement
regarding the comedian's true cause of death. It read in part,
"The authorities have determined that Bob passed from head trauma.
They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something,
thought nothing of it, and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved."
At the time, it was a shocking revelation and a completely unexpected development in the story,
with the family's statement being released just before
the official release of the medical examiner's report. The report read:
"It is most probable that the decedent suffered an
unwitnessed fall backward and struck the posterior aspect of his head."
While the manner of Bob Saget's death stunned fans, the severity of his injuries is nothing
short of shocking. According to U.S. News & World Report, he was found to have
multiple skull fractures, but the report said that there was no evidence of injuries in other parts
of the body — something that would normally be seen in someone who had suffered a fall.
The question turned to how Saget could've sustained such severe injuries. Dr. Jeffrey
Bazarian, a concussion expert and emergency physician, told the New York Times that if
someone hits their head in just the right manner, such injuries are possible. According to him,
"It's like an egg cracking. You hit it in one spot,
and it can crack from the back to the front."
Dr. Bazarian said he thought it was unlikely that Saget intentionally ignored the injury,
and that it may have left him confused. He told the Times,
“I doubt he was lucid, and doubt he thought, ‘I’m just going to sleep this off.’”
Still, the severity of Saget's injuries to the back,
right, and front of his skull is so high that another doctor — Dr. Gavin Britz,
the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist — told the Times,
"This is significant trauma. This is something I find with someone with a baseball bat to the head,
or who has fallen from 20 or 30 feet."