Exuding his trademark warmth and humbleness, this is an exclusive last photo of “America’s father” Bob Saget, taken minutes before he retired to his Florida hotel room and died in a bizarre fall.
First published by , Full House legend Saget looks unharmed and perfectly healthy in a memorable selfie taken by a valet parking his rental car outside the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes.
Police used the image to determine that the 65-year-old actor suffered fatal head injuries after arriving at the glitzy golf resort in the early hours of Jan. 9, rather than before.
“The photo clearly shows the face of Mr. Saget with glasses. There is no evidence of injuries or bruising near his left eye that were evident after death,” said the final detectives report released Tuesday, which concluded his death was a tragic accident.
Valet Orlando Nunez, 21, who took the selfie with Saget, told in an exclusive interview: “I didn’t see any injuries, he didn’t look injured, he didn’t slur his words – he was exactly as I remembered when I watched him on television as a child. I was delighted.
first showed Bob Saget healthy and smiling in a selfie taken by a hotel valet who parked his rental car at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grand Lakes. Investigators used the photo to determine that he suffered a head injury after arriving at the hotel. Valet Orlando Nunez, 21, told in an exclusive interview: “I didn’t see any injuries, he didn’t look hurt, he didn’t slur words – he was exactly as I remembered him watching him on TV as a child. I was delighted.
Hours before he was found dead in his hotel, Saget shared a selfie on Instagram following his performance at Jacksonville’s Ponte Vedra on January 8.
Saget returned from a stand-up concert in Jacksonville two hours before handing over the keys to his Chevrolet Impala and heading to the Ritz-Carlton Orlando hotel (pictured) at 2:13.
Investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department have not determined exactly how Saget severely fractured his skull, but suggest that he slipped and hit his head either on the carpet or on the upholstered headboard of his bed.
“Our goal was to find specific locations or objects in the room that could have caused the trauma found at autopsy,” their report says.
Countertops, tables, nightstands and other hard furniture in the room had sharply defined edges and corners, which is unlikely due to the fact that they could cut the skin.
For the same reason, the racks in the bathroom and shower were excluded. Most of the chairs and couches were upholstered in thick fabric and were too soft to inflict this type and severity of injury on Mr. Saget.
As mentioned earlier most of the room was carpeted. The head of the bed was lightly upholstered and set back slightly from the wall.
“They are listed here as possible mechanisms of damage, but nothing was found in the room to allow a definitive conclusion.”
This diagram shows all of the injuries Saget received leading to his death from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Authorities initially claimed that Saget hit his head on the headboard, but experts said his injuries were severe enough to be the result of being hit with a baseball bat.
This photo shows the white marble floor in one of the rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande, where Saget was found dead on January 9.
Saget returned from a stand-up concert in Jacksonville two hours before handing over the keys to his Chevrolet Impala and heading to the Ritz-Carlton at 2:13 am.
The father-of-three was then seen on CCTV “walking through the lobby on purpose” before entering his room at 2:17 a.m.
When he failed to check out later that day, security entered his plush suite at 3:53 p.m. and found Saget dead in his bed with swelling and slight bruising at the corner of his left eye.
The door to room 962 was locked from the inside, and there was no sign of a struggle, nothing was damaged, and there were no traces of blood on his sheets or bedding, the report added.
Unusually, the inner door to the adjacent room, 961, was found unlocked, but staff determined that no one had entered while Saget was there.
Nunez’s stunned valet said Saget had warned him during their early interaction that he was recovering from a Covid bout, but he saw no signs of ill health.
Saget is pictured with his wife Kelly Rizzo (right) and daughter Lara (left) in June 2021.
Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo (pictured), and his three daughters filed a lawsuit seeking to block the publication of any records from the medical examiner’s office related to his death.
“At that moment he was wearing a mask, so I had no idea who it was. I said I could take it off because I had Covid twice myself,” Nunes told .
“I recognized the voice, but it wasn’t until he took it off that I was like, ‘Oh man, this is Bob Saget, so nice to meet you.’
Nunez said the two men chatted warmly about the pandemic, their families and their home state of California for several minutes before taking pictures with his cell phone.
“He said he just got back from Jacksonville, but he didn’t look tired at all, like he just stepped off the stage,” Nunes continued.
“We were talking about Covid and he joked about how there are so many strains now that they give them sorority names.
“Anyway, I was very careful with the photo as I wanted to be polite and respectful. But he said, “Come here, come on.”
Saget’s death was ruled an accident, but Orange County investigators were unable to determine exactly how he severely fractured his skull.
On January 14, a private funeral for the artist took place in Los Angeles.
“I met a few celebrities who hardly spoke a word, but Bob was the most sincere and approachable guy. When I heard what happened the next day, I was devastated.
“People keep asking questions about what happened, but I don’t think there’s a bigger picture that we’re all missing. I just want him to rest in peace.”
Saget’s death stunned his worldwide fan community and baffled his distraught wife, Kelly Rizzo, who said her husband was the happiest man he’s ever been and was in perfect health.
An autopsy confirmed his Covid diagnosis, but Orange County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Stephanie determined it played no role in his sudden death.
Experts also ruled out drugs or alcohol as the cause, attributing the death of the beloved comedian to “blunt trauma to the head,” including various abrasions to the scalp and fractures to the base of the skull.
“Given the circumstances of death, and after examination of the body, toxicological analysis, microscopic analysis, testing of a group of respiratory pathogens, bilateral lung cultures, and post-mortem computed tomography, I believe that the death of Robert Saget, a 65-year-old white male found unconscious in a hotel room, is the result of blunt trauma to the head,” concluded Dr. Stephanie.
“It is most likely that the deceased accidentally fell on his back and hit the back of his head. The way of death is an accident.
Saget with his three daughters in 2008 – from left to right: Aubrey, Lara and Jennifer.
Saget is pictured as single father Danny Tanner in a September 1993 publicity photo for the popular ABC sitcom Full House.
Saget was on the road as part of his I Don’t Do Negative Comedy Tour when he passed away.
Investigators spoke to several people who attended last night’s concert at the Ponte Vedra Beach resort, near Jacksonville, but none of them recalled acting strangely, taking drugs or drinking.
Hertz confirmed that his car was not damaged when it was picked up from the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
On Monday, a judge agreed to make the court order permanent, barring the publication of graphic photos and videos related to Saget’s death after his family filed a lawsuit to prevent them from appearing in news articles and spread online.