How did Mrs. Pignati die in The Pigman?

We are but given partial information regarding the answer
to this question. The chapter you will want to re-read is Chapter 10, when Lorraine and
John come clean with Mr. Pignati about their true identity as school kids as opposed to
the charity workers they had pretended to be to get to know him. In response, Mr.
Pignati reveals to them something that John had already discovered when he rummaged
through a few of Mr. Pignati's things upstairs: his beloved wife, Conchetta, is actually
dead. He does not give us details of how his wife died, but it is clear that his wife
was incredibly important to him. Note what he says about their
relationship:

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"We loved each other. We didn't need anyone else.
She did everything for me. We were each others life," he managed to say, and then broke
into sobs.

This of course is
a key moment in the development of the relationship between John, Lorraine and Mr.
Pignati, for it represents a new level of honesty that comes to characterise their
relationship.