Thornburgh obtained an indictment on March 5, 1974. That same day, Duggan was found shot to death on his family estate in Ligonier Township, victim of a shotgun blast. The body was found on the grounds of the estate; the shotgun was seven to ten feet from the body. Duggan, authorities said, apparently had been hunting before accidentally or purposefully turning the shotgun on himself. The Pittsburgh Press asked, "Was the law closing in on Robert W. Duggan so inexorably that his only escape was suicide?"
