In December 1971, Italian authorities announced that an inquest would be held into Talitha's death the following March; they requested that Getty meet with investigators to describe the circumstances surrounding her death. Afraid that his own drug addiction would result in his being indicted and potentially imprisoned, Getty left for England.[12] He ignored a subsequent request by an Italian judge to return to Italy for the inquest. Neither an arrest warrant, nor an extradition request was ever issued, since Getty was never a suspect in Talitha's death, but he never returned to Italy for fear of being detained.[13]