I don’t know whether it’s best to know that your pet has deceased or that they’re still just lost. Both situations sound horrible for the original owners of the deceased cat :/ if it had owners, that is.
Kind of surprised their Ted didn’t have a collar on? They let that cat roam the neighborhood without any identification that he has a family? We don’t let our cats roam the neighborhood anymore, but when we did, we always made sure they had a collar so someone didn’t assume they were strays needing a home or to be taken to the shelter. Otherwise, would have thought it strange that this cat didn’t have a collar on, unless they assumed it was ripped off at some point?