How long could a death be covered up?

The Nelson Mandela thread, in which Ilmago said that Mandela is dead and it is just being kept hush-hush for now, got me to thinking: How long could a head of state or big-time celebrity stay dead without news getting out?

Among the people I can think of who are or were rumored to be already dead: Fidel Castro, Osama bin laden, Kim Jong Il, Paul McCartney.

Could it really happen in this media age?

Can anybody think of a case in which it has happened?

 

If the person is a recluse, I think you could definitely do it.

 

Seemed like Sinatra was rumored to be dead for years before he was announced as being dead.

Abe Vigoda actually IS dead, btw. Body double.

 

23 years, 5 months, and 11 days.

And counting.

 

Need more information. Does being zombified count as being dead?

 

And another thing: how long would bin Laden have to go without making a video or tape before we could assume he's dead? The problem with that guy is he's younger than we all think of him as.

I thought he was like 60 after 9/11, only to learn that he was only in his mid-40s.

 

But he was lives in a cave. Doesn't he also have a kidney or liver condition?

 

In a controlled state like N. Korea it could be a weeks, maybe months.

On much, much smaller scale look at Dick Winters. News of his death wasn't out for more than week after he was laid to rest.

 

Wasn't Johnny Carson dead for a week before the news got out?

 

Well, considering we live in an age when news agencies have no problem pronouncing people dead BEFORE they die (Yeah, CNN, we're looking at you), I can't imagine news of a major celebrity/political figure dying would last more than a day.

Of course, if it's someone who's dropped off the face of the planet, and doesn't have his/her own Twitter feed, maybe they could stretch that out to a week.

 

I believe that the Cleveland Cavaliers died last July and David Stern is holding back the news.