ASPEN, Colorado (AP) -- The widow of journalist Hunter S. Thompson said her husband killed himself while the two were talking on the phone.
"I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down and he did it. I heard the clicking of the gun," Anita Thompson told the Aspen Daily News in Friday's editions.
She said her husband had asked her to come home from a health club so they could work on his weekly ESPN column -- but instead of saying goodbye, he set the telephone down and shot himself.
Thompson said she heard a loud, muffled noise, but didn't know what had happened. "I was waiting for him to get back on the phone," she said.
(Her account to Rocky Mountain News reporter Jeff Kass is slightly different: "I did not hear any bang," she told Kass. She added that Thompson's son, who was in the house at the time, believed that a book had fallen when he heard the shot, according to Kass' report.)
Hunter Thompson, famous for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and other works of New Journalism, shot himself in the head Sunday in the kitchen of his Aspen-area home. He was 67.
His son, daughter-in-law and 6-year-old grandson were in the house when the shooting occurred.
Anita Thompson, 32, said her husband had discussed killing himself in recent months and had been issuing verbal and written directives about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets.
His suicidal talk put a strain on their relationship, she said.
"He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision," she said. "It was a problem for us."
The word was typed on stationery from the Fourth Amendment Foundation, which was started to defend victims of unwarranted search and seizure, according to reports released Tuesday.
It was not immediately known what, if any, significance the word had to the founder of "gonzo" journalism or to his family.
Juan Thompson found his father dead Feb. 20 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. After reporting the death, Juan Thompson walked outside the Woody Creek home and fired three shotgun blasts into the air.
"Juan told me he had shot a shotgun into the air to mark the passing of his father," Pitkin County Deputy Sheriff John Armstrong said in his report.
Juan Thompson was allowed to go into the kitchen alone to drape a golden orange scarf over his father's shoulders, according to Armstrong. Jennifer Winkel Thompson, Juan Thompson's wife, said the family had purchased the silk scarf in Florence, Italy, and gave it to Hunter Thompson the night before.
The couple and their 6-year-old son were in the house when Thompson, 67, took a handgun, put it to his mouth and fired.
A soft-sided gun case was found at Thompson's feet along with a spent shell casing, according to reports.
The family has canceled plans for a public gathering in favor of a private service. A public event will be held at a later date. Plans also are in the works to blast Thompson's ashes from a cannon, which was one of the author's wishes.
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