On 26 July 2005 Victoria's Public Advocate, Julian Gardner, announced that the feeding tube to Korp would cease to be used for providing artificial nutrition and hydration, that palliative care would be implemented and that she was expected to die within 7 to 14 days.

Korp was later found unconscious, locked in the boot of her car near the Shrine of Remembrance in Dallas Brooks Drive, in Kings Domain, Melbourne on 13 February 2005.

[2] She was taken to nearby Alfred Hospital, and was found to have suffered oxygen starvation to the brain, head injuries and severe dehydration.

On 28 April 2005, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appointed Victoria's Public Advocate, Julian Gardner as Korp's legal guardian.

[6] Joe Korp pleaded not guilty on all charges and was later released on bail on 9 June, and committed to stand trial.

They held peaceful protests outside Melbourne's Alfred Hospital to demonstrate against the "inhumane" decision by Gardner, to stop artificially feeding her.

According to an ABC radio report,[10] Gardner explained that they talked over a period of months to people who knew her well, including her priest, to find out what she believed, and took advice from "an expert Catholic ethicist".

[citation needed] The controversy was heightened by the fact that it occurred at the end of the internationally publicised controversy about Terri Schiavo, an American woman in a vegetative state (for a decade or more longer than Korp) whose artificial treatment and hydration was ceased following a decision by her husband that was made after numerous court cases which ultimately confirmed his authority to do so.

Forbidden by family to attend the service, Joe Korp invited the media to a private funeral ceremony at his home where he sang "Unchained Melody" and "The Lady in Red".

Both contacted police who rushed to the house to find him standing on a ladder with a noose around his neck while talking on a mobile phone.

[14] On 14 February 2014, Herman was released on parole after serving a little over eight years in the Dame Phyllis Frost maximum-security prison.