• Breaking News: Noorda's Daughter Dead

Maureen O'Gara reports, in an update to her earlier story datelined Saturday, March 19: Val Noorda Kreidel, Ray Noorda's only daughter, shot herself to death at her home in Huntington Beach, California at 8am last Thursday morning, March 17, according to Orange County supervising deputy coroner Cullen Ellingburgh.

She shot herself in the head, Ellingburgh said. He ruled out murder.

Ms. Kreidel committed suicide less than a week after the fracas over the management of the Canopy Group, her father's venture capital operation, was settled.

She was 49 and leaves a husband, four daughters and a son in addition to her parents and brothers.

The settlement transferred Canopy's 32% position in the infamous SCO Group and an undisclosed amount of money to former Canopy CEO Ralph Yarro.

The Yahoo message board related to SCO's stock wasn't content with the initial report that Ms. Kriedel died of an "apparent heart attack" and placed calls to the coroner that tore away the protective euphemism.

Given Ms. Kriedel's conservative Mormon roots, one can understand why the family might be giving it out that she died of natural causes.

It is the second suicide in the Yarro case. Canopy IT director Robert Penrose also shot himself to death in December a few days after Ms. Kriedel ousted Canopy's incumbent management and replaced CEO Ralph Yarro.

The palace coup led to lawsuits, a medical examination of her father's mental competency and the settlement on March 11.

Yarro chairs the SCO board and former Canopy CFO Darcy Mott, also ousted by Ms. Kreidel, is also on the SCO board. SCO of course is suing IBM for $5 billion charging that it stole its code and put it in Linux, a move that has earned it the undying enmity of the Linux community. A charge that includes AIX is pending.

Yarro, who will remain on SCO board, according to SCO CEO Darl McBride, was replaced at Canopy by Bill Mustard. Mustard was believed to be taking his instructions from Ms. Kreidel.

It is unclear what will happen to Canopy and its many portfolio companies now. Calls to Canopy haven't been returned yet as of this writing.

Yarro's lawyer Stan Preston said this morning that Ms. Kriedel's untimely death would have no impact on the settlement. All the papers were signed on March 11 and forwarded to the Utah court where the suits were originally filed.