Martin Short’s frantic last call before daughter Katherine was found dead at 42 revealed in autopsy report
Martin Short called a friend to check on his daughter Katherine before she was found dead in her Los Angeles home.
Katherine died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in February at the age of 42.
His 76-year-old father became concerned after not hearing from him for more than 24 hours and called a friend to check on him, according to the newly released autopsy report. TMZ.
The autopsy revealed that the friend went to Katherine’s house, where she found a note on the locked bedroom door.
The friend immediately called 911, prompting police to break into the bedroom.
Inside, officers found Katherine in bed with a Glock 19 9mm pistol placed under her chest.
Martin Short, 76, called a friend to check on his daughter Katherine before she was found dead in her Los Angeles home; The actor was photographed on May 6
Katherine died of self-inflicted gunshot wound in February aged 42: Short seen with daughter in 2011
A suicide note was seized at the scene.
The autopsy also noted that Katherine had a documented history of depression and other mental illnesses, as well as a suicide attempt involving pills in 2017.
Katherine was the eldest child of Short and Nancy Dolman.
Earlier this month, Short spoke out about her daughter’s suicide, saying her loss was “a nightmare” for everyone who loved her.
Short compared his struggle with mental health to the cancer his wife Nancy faced. He died of the disease in 2010.
‘Understanding [is] “I think that mental health and cancer, like my wife’s, are both diseases and sometimes with diseases they are fatal,” said the star of the Three Amigos, Father of the Bride! and Just Murders in the Building.
She also told CBS Sunday Mornings: ‘My daughter struggled for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder and other things, and she did the best she could until she couldn’t.’
According to the newly released autopsy report, the actor became concerned after not hearing from her for more than 24 hours and called a friend to check on her, according to TMZ: They were seen in 2006
The autopsy also noted that Katherine had a documented history of depression and other mental illnesses, as well as a suicide attempt involving pills in 2017; seen in 2008
Short said her goal is to support mental health awareness organization Bringchange2mind, founded by Glenn Close.
He said the non-profit aims to ‘bring mental health out of the shadows’.
Short shared a touching message touching on how she hopes struggles with mental health can be understood.
‘I’m not ashamed of it, I’m not hiding from the word suicide, it’s accepting that this can be the final stage of an illness and that’s my approach to it,’ he said.
Katherine was one of three children adopted by Short and his wife.
Her daughter was a licensed clinical social worker with a master’s degree from the University of Southern California.
Her loss left the actor and his brothers Oliver Patrick, 39, and Henry Hayter, 36, ‘devastated’.
But her pain gave Short a poignant perspective on her daughter’s decision to end her life.
Katherine was one of three children Short and his wife, Nancy Dolman, adopted during their 30-year marriage. Photographed with her parents and brother Oliver Patrick in 1989.
As Nancy died of ovarian cancer in 2010, aged 58, her last words to him were ‘Marty let me go’.
He told CBS Sunday Mornings that his daughter Katherine said in her own way: ‘Dad, let me go.’
Her daughter’s passing came just weeks after the death of Catherine O’Hara, her friend and collaborator of fifty years, and two months after the murders of her close friends Rob and Michele Reiner.
O’Hara died of a pulmonary embolism on January 30 at the age of 71, and the underlying long-term cause was determined to be rectal cancer.
