Actress Alicia Witt kept her family life relatively private as she attained stardom, but her parents Robert and Diane Witt became the subject of headlines after their mysterious deaths.
The Walking Dead alum, 46, announced the news in a statement released on Tuesday, December 21. “I reached out to a cousin who lives close to my parents to check on them. Sadly, the outcome was unimaginable,” she said. “I ask for some privacy at this time to grieve and to wrap my head around this turn of events, and this surreal loss.”
Alicia asked her relative to check on her mother and father at their Worcester, Massachusetts, home on Monday, December 20, after she had not heard from her parents in “several days.”
Local newspaper Telegram & Gazette reported that the Nashville alum’s cousin called police for assistance in checking on Robert and Diane. The authorities found the couple dead when they entered their home but did not see any obvious causes of death. Robert was 87, while Diane was 75.
Lieutenant Sean Murtha clarified in a statement, “There was no trauma.”
The fire department visited Robert and Diane’s home to check the air quality after the tragedy but found no evidence of carbon monoxide or other dangerous gases. Police confirmed that the Massachusetts medical examiner will perform autopsies on the pair to determine their causes of death.
Alicia revealed in September how her mother played a role in her big break when she was discovered by a producer from That’s Incredible! “The producer saw a photo of me reading in a magazine and got in touch and asked if I had anything I could do on the show. My mom had, at that point, taught me how to do a scene from Romeo and Juliet. I was 5,” she told The Boston Globe. “Two years later, the casting director for Dune was searching for someone to play the role of Alia and [saw that clip]. It was serendipity.”
Although she was a child star, the Two Weeks Notice actress explained in August 2014 that her family struggled financially when she was young. “My parents were both teachers. My dad made about $35,000 a year and we didn’t have a car until I was, I think, 11,” she told Marketplace. “Money was always something that we had to be careful of.”
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