Murray Edge died from drowning after falling into water while unconscious, his widow Marilyn Edge said yesterday.
Mrs Edge, of Dunedin, received her husband's autopsy results yesterday, and said she was disclosing them promptly to allay ''vicious'' rumours.
''We wanted to put it out there as fast as possible to let people know that, no, there was no-one to blame. This is just the circumstances.''
Mr Edge was hunting with a friend when the pair were separated on April 19.
s body was found near Timaru on Monday morning.
''They said he'd fallen unconscious into water and drowned,'' Mrs Edge said.
There was no evidence to suggest he had suffered a medical event, she said.
''We still think he fell over the cliff and he's hit his head on the way down and he's landed at the bottom in the water.''
The family plan to hold two services, in Dunedin on May 30 and in Fairlie on June 1, two days before what would have been Mr Edge's 65th birthday.
Both services, at the Baha'i Centre in Dunedin and Fairlie Community Theatre, were open to the public.
