President Tolbert was killed in the coup d'état on April 12, 1980. Following the coup, Victoria was imprisoned, and then put under house arrest, by Samuel Doe's regime for months. Victoria was ultimately freed and allowed to leave to the United States. In the United States, she lived in White Plains, New York for a time before moving to Plymouth, Minnesota with one of her daughters. In 1996, Victoria released a book she wrote entitled "Lifted Up: The Victoria Tolbert Story". In November 1997, Victoria died of a heart attack in Plymouth. Sources are inconsistent on the exact date of her death. The "New York Times" printed that she died on November 8, while the Associated Press printed that she died on November 9. She was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.