at the inquest, imlay was declared "dead", rather than a suicide or an insanity victim, which saved her body from various indignities. todd speculates that shelley arranged for imlay to be declared "dead" (an appellation more common for the well-to-do) and removed any identifying items, such as her name on the note. she also concludes that to protect the rest of the family, he refused to claim her body. no one else claimed imlay's body and it was probably buried in a pauper's grave. in fact, godwin wrote to percy shelley: