How do you know who died?

It should say in the call who it was who died. I just got the call about one of the townies who was friends with one of my Sims and her teen son, but not my Sim's wife so she and their toddler daughter didn't get the sad moodlet. If you haven't cleared your notifications for a while you might still be able to find the call.

Maybe I need to repair my game!