Bob Saget’s widow has rebuffed claims her husband wasn’t feeling well on the night he died, and backed a report concluding he was killed by falling and hitting his head.
‘The records released tell the entire story – that is, Bob passed away after a fall and hitting his head in his hotel room,’ attorney Brian H. Bieber told Page Six on Thursday on Kelly Rizzo’s behalf.
‘Now that the medical examiner’s and police department’s records have been released after their respective thorough investigations, the Saget family would appreciate privacy to mourn in peace.’
Rosalie Cocci, 37, a staffer at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall who ran errands for the performers of what would be the ‘Full House’ cast’s last comedy show, told police in Orange County, Florida, that Saget told her his hearing with ‘off’ and that he had a ‘sore throat’ before he took the stage on January 8.
Bob Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo (right), rebuffed claims her husband wasn’t feeling well on the night he died and backed a report claiming he passed on after falling and hitting his head. She and Saget are pictured in June of 2021
Hours later, Saget was found dead in his room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande.
Medical examiners believe he either fell and injured himself in his carpeted bedroom, or marble-tiled bathroom
There was no blood in the room or its bathroom, and the headboard on his bed was soft, triggering ongoing speculation about how exactly Saget had managed to injure himself so severely, and in a way that ultimately killed him.
‘He said that his hearing had been off and that was the case that night. He was asking the sound guys to turn everything up,’ she told investigators, according to interview audio released on Wednesday by investigators
And [he said] that he had been sick the night before – his hearing was off, and he had a sore throat. He was happy he had lozenges for the stage.’
Cocci said that Saget told her he was suffering from ‘long-term COVID,’ which was ‘taking his body a long time to get over.’
Bob Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo, stood by a medical examiner’s autopsy of her husband’s death, rebuffing claims that COVID-19 may have played a role. Saget is pictured with a hotel valet in his last photo, taken minutes before he retired to his hotel room before he was found dead there hours later
According to Cocci, ‘I did hear him say, ‘I don’t feel good but I’m ready to do the show. This is what I do this for.’ He seemed to be talking himself up.’
But once he got in stage, she told police, the comedian ‘seemed okay’ and ‘was cracking jokes’ during his two-hour-long performance.
Show runner Rosalie Cocci, 37, told investigators that Saget had complained of his health in the lead up to his last performance
‘He wasn’t sweating, he didn’t miss a beat, nothing slurred… he came out very energetic,’ she said.
Saget had spoken about having Covid 19 several days before he died, telling a podcast: ‘It is not good, it does not feel good.’
The next day around 4 pm, Saget was found dead in room 963 of the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande. Earlier this week, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department released photos of the room.
He was last seen alive entering his room on the ninth floor of the hotel at 2.17am on January 9, hanging a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the doorknob, and locking the door behind him, according to surveillance video from the hotel
Saget’s autopsy report confirmed that the actor was COVID positive upon his death. However, the diagnosis did not play any part in the actor’s sudden death, according to an autopsy report released last month by Orange County medical examiner, Dr. Joshua Stephany.
The report notes that there was ‘no evidence of acute or chronic inflammation by microscopy.’
The backstage crew of his final show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, Florida, revealed to investigators that Saget told them he felt ill
This diagram shows all the injuries sustained by Saget, resulting in his death from a brain bleed
‘In consideration of the circumstances surrounding the death, and after examination of the body, toxicology analysis, microscopic analysis, respiratory pathogen panel testing, bilateral lung cultures, and postmortem CT, it is my opinion that the death of Robert Saget, a 65- year-old white male found unresponsive in a hotel room, is the result of blunt head trauma,’ the report says.
‘It is most probable that the deceased suffered an unwitnessed fall backwards and struck the posterior of his head. The manner of death is an accident.’
Authorities ruled out foul play in his death, and believe that the 65-year-old slipped and struck his head on either the headboard or the carpeted floor in the early hours of January 9.
Crime scene photos show the inside of room 962 at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, where Full House legend Bob Saget died
Authorities ruled out foul play in his death, and initially believed that the 65-year-old fell, smacking his head the marble bathroom floor of his hotel room – but were unable to find supporting DNA on bathroom surfaces
Cops cataloged every surface and object inside room 962 at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes as they looked for anything that could have caused Full House legend Saget’s fractured skull. Saget’s night stand showing his iPhone, iPad, glasses, AirPods, Chapstick and more are shown
The cache of images include a shot of the padded headboard above the comedian’s bed as well as his walk-in shower, bathtub, desk and minibar
Initially, they said they believed the stand-up comic sustained a fatal blow when he hit the back of his head against headboard of his hotel bed, despite medical experts saying that his injuries were so severe that they could have resulted from being bashed with a baseball bat, or falling 30 feet.
Investigators told People Magazine they believe Saget blacked out in the hotel bathroom and fell backward onto the white marble floor.
At some point, Saget apparently came to and made his way to the bed, where he passed out a second time and died. His time of death was estimated to be around 4am.
Saget’s widow Kelly Rizzo appeared on Good Morning America last month to share her grievance. She also referenced her late husband’s bout of Covid, downplaying it as ‘nothing serious.’
She broke down in tears as she said he had no health problems.
‘All I’ll point to is that last post of his where he said he felt 26,’ she said, referring to his final Instagram post.
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