.>> reporter: josh freeman was one of michael's best friends. >> he was like an uncle to my kids.to so many people. and then he was just gone. i mean, nobody had a chance to say goodbye. i talked to him three days before he died. never think that was going to be the last time that you talk to him. >> reporter: josh and michael since the seventh grade and said his friend was smart, a computer whiz who worked in i.t. at a hospital in birmingham. >> he was the computer nerd as we told him. >> reporter: more than that, he was funny and kind it was always there if you needed him.>> i think the fact that he is not going to be there anymore, you don't even know how to work that out.>> reporter: a cousin to michael's wife cindy was also reeling from the news. >> it was devastating. he was just a kind soul. >> reporter: her heart broke for cindy. her husband was gone and it was a tragedy cindy had experienced before. she lost her first husband to suicide eight years earlier. >> she sort of withdrew within herself more than anything. i think that she did not have any motivation or maybe any