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Police don't suspect foul play in deaths of Alicia Witt's elderly parents

The elderly couple had been having furnace problems and were using a space heater, but firefighters have said there were no signs of carbon monoxide in the home

December 27, 2021 12:48pm

Updated: December 27, 2021 12:48pm

Police found the parents of actress Alicia Witt dead inside their Worcester, Mass. home last Monday after a relative performed a welfare check on the elderly couple.

Yet while police have yet to confirm the causes of death, they have said there were no signs of trauma or foul play, and the deaths are not considered suspicious. The Massachusetts medical examiner is scheduled to perform autopsies on the Witts to determine the cause and manner of their deaths, but results could take weeks or longer to be made public.

According to the Associated Press, Witt had not heard from Robert Witt, 87, and Diane Witt, 75, in several days and asked a relative to stop by to check on them.

“I reached out to a cousin who lives close to my parents to check on them. Sadly, the outcome was unimaginable,” Witt wrote in a statement. “I ask for some privacy at this time to grieve and to wrap my head around this turn of events, and this surreal loss.” 

The elderly couple had been having furnace problems and were using a space heater. Firefighters, however, have said there were no signs of carbon monoxide in the home. The night they were discovered was the coldest of the month and temperatures dropped to 15 degrees, according to the Telegram & Gazette.

Court documents indicate that Diane Witt may have suffered from health problems related to the damage to their home from a 2008 ice storm. Records show that she suffered "severe problems with [her] breathing, with sleeping, congestion and nosebleeds," along with "difficulty with her memory [and] with communication" due to mold and fiberglass exposure.

In a court case filed in 2011, the Witts alleged that Hanover Insurance did not sufficiently cover damages done to their home during an ice storm, though documents show that the insurance company paid out more than $110,000.

Hanover’s lawyer, however, claimed that the Witts “made no effort to repair or replace the damage to their home, and it remains in a state of disrepair to this date.” 

The Witts had lived in the house since 1979 and raised their two children, Alicia and her younger brother Ian, there.

Alicia Witt made her acting debut at age 7 in 1984′s “Dune” and has also appeared in “Orange Is the New Black,” “Twin Peaks” and “The Walking Dead.”