User blog comment:DancePowderer/Die, Birdie, Die!/@comment-972068-20120613014357

In my opinion, if something happens to a character that SHOULD kill them, they are dead until proven alive. If something happens to them and they SHOULD have died but ended up alive, they are alive.

So basically, if their last known appearance was them alive, they're alive. If their last known appearance is them dead or about to die, they're dead.