i was gonna do cpr. >> reporter: you pulled the knife out of her? >> yeah. if your mother was laying there with something sticking out of her that was hurting her, what would you do? you'd want to make that hurt go away. >> reporter: could you tell whether she was dead or alive? >> when i touched her neck and she was kind of cold. >> reporter: susanne ran out of the house and called 911. >> oh, my god! oh, my god! oh, my god. >> i was screaming. i'm sure the neighbors that were around heard. i need an ambulance right away! >> ma'am calm down. what's going on there? >> i think my mother fell down the stairs with a knife in her hand and stabbed herself. >> reporter: susanne was right about one thing. peggy nadell was dead. her next call was to her brother jim in florida. >> i called my brother's house. he didn't answer. i called diana on her cell, and i said, mommy's gone. and she started screaming at the other end of the phone. what do you mean mommy's gone? i said, she's gone. she died. something happened. she died.