David Strickland - Death

Death

Strickland died during the morning hours of March 22, 1999. After checking in at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas, Strickland consumed several bottles of beer and later hanged himself with a bed sheet over the ceiling beam. His body was discovered by a hotel desk clerk. He left no note, and evidence of drug usage was found in his room. The Clark County Coroner concluded that Strickland's body bore the marks of a previous suicide attempt.

After much discussion, the writers of Suddenly Susan decided to deal with Strickland's death directly. In the show's third season finale, Todd simply did not show up to work one day. When Susan (Brooke Shields) called Todd regarding tickets to a show, his pager vibrated on his desk. She spent the day searching for Todd, finding out about a number of good deeds he did throughout his life that she had no idea about. The episode ends when the police visited Susan and her office staff as she asked hopefully if they know where Todd was. The exact details of Todd's fate were left ambiguous. The entire episode was interspersed with out-of-character interviews of Shields and the supporting cast including Judd Nelson, Kathy Griffin, Barbara Barrie, Nestor Carbonell, and Andrea Bendewald.