On October 23, 1983, approximately three weeks after her problematic NBC broadcast, Savitch had dinner with Martin Fischbein, vice president of the New York Post, in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Savitch and Fischbein had been dating for a few weeks. After eating at the restaurant Chez Odette, they began to drive home about 7:15 p.m., with Fischbein behind the wheel and Savitch in the back seat with her dog, Chewy. Fischbein may have missed posted warning signs in a heavy rainfall. He drove out of the wrong exit from the restaurant, and up the towpath of the old Pennsylvania Canal's Delaware Division on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River. The car veered too far to the left and went over the edge into the shallow water of the canal. After falling approximately 15 feet and landing upside down, the station wagon sank into deep mud that sealed the doors shut. Savitch and Fischbein were trapped inside as water poured in. A local resident found the wreck at about 11:30 that night. Fischbein's body was still strapped behind the wheel, with Savitch and her dog in the back seat.
After autopsies, the Bucks County coroner ruled that both Savitch and Fischbein had died from asphyxiation by drowning. Neither Savitch nor Fischbein had any drugs in their system at the time of death, and they had consumed only small amounts of alcohol — about half a glass of wine each. According to the New Hope police chief, a similar death had occurred at the same spot some years before.
Savitch's family and a group of her friends later sued the New York Post (whose insurance covered the leased car Fischbein was driving), Fischbein, Chez Odette, and the state of Pennsylvania for damages in Savitch's death. The suit was settled for $8 million, most of which was paid by the New York Post. Some of the money was used to establish scholarships for women studying for careers in broadcasting or journalism at Ithaca College and other colleges.