Children who lost their parents within 48 hours of each other say they are still searching for answers.
Steven Daniel, 48, was found dead in the River Humber 12 days after his daughters reported him missing in April 2019.
Two days later his partner of 23 years, Jane Cairns, 42, died from a fatal overdose.
An inquest at Grimsby Town Hall heard that the couple, from Scunthorpe, would not have their cause of death recorded as suicide because there was a lack of evidence of any deliberate acts, nor any proof of intention on both their parts to take their own life.
Hull Live reports that acting senior coroner for Lincolnshire, Paul Smith, revealed the overdose taken by Jane was possibly five days before she died.
No suicide notes were located at their home and there were no social media entries suggesting mental ill-health, while neither parent had spoken to their children of any intentions.
Police investigators and the coroner were left baffled by the lack of evidence for the unexplained actions of both the parents within such a short time frame.
Steven had spoken to one of his daughters, Katie, days before he died to arrange spending time together and fix her bicycle.
Despite having several health issues between the two of them, both parents were quoted by relatives as "reasonably happy”.
Many knew him as "a gentle giant" and Jane as "a quiet soul" who doted on their family.
Daughter Amie told the hearing in a statement read by the coroner’s office that her father was worried about his health and had once told her “everyone in my life died young.”
He was first reported missing to police on April 18, when Katie had stayed overnight at the family home.
It was later discovered he had not attended for work the previous evening.
She said Jane had been unwell and told Katie not to trouble the police. When she did, Jane was dismissive of the officers and did not co-operate with their investigation.
She had appeared unwell but there was no indication she had taken an overdose of medication.
A grandfather out walking near gave evidence that he saw something fall from bridge at around 11am on April 18 and he recalled hearing a splash. But he was 200 yards away and assumed workmen had dropped something.
It wasn't until two days later when search and rescue teams were looking along the shoreline that he mentioned the sighting to the volunteers.
On April 30 lifeboat rescue teams went on to retrieve Steven's body.
He had walked out of view of cameras on the bridge. The coroner said there was no conclusive evidence of him deliberately jumping from the bridge with an intention of taking his own life, but there was a strong inference that he had.
Police officers searching his home found two iPad devices tucked under a bed. But both had been wiped of all data and returned to factory settings, the inquest heard.
After reading the post-mortem examination of Jane Cairns and reading out medical reports, the coroner said the ingestion of an overdose had happened possibly around April 15.
In his narrative conclusion, he said Jane Cairns had died from an excessive quantity of medication.
The couple had four children, two of them together from their long-standing relationship which was described as "sound and solid."
After the hearing, youngest daughter Arielle said: “Three years feels like yesterday. As a family, we are absolutely distraught.
"Every day is a battle, and as a family we are still picking up the pieces, trying to fit an unattainable puzzle to figure out why they did what they did.”
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