It's a funny story.
heard him tell it a while ago
It's unlikely hes really dead
his body was never produced for his widow. Or anyone else.
It's very old-fashioned but if you don't have a plausible body you can't really know the person is dead.
He supposedly left a deadman switch, but it was very paltry.
still shot of a mine, that resembles an owl at the end of this vid. Was allegedly part of the deadman switch.
https://tora3.com/video/2d778564c644bfa0f29055c8fdaeff82