But Nopcsa's tenure in the Geological Institute was short-lived, he soon became bored of the sedentary job. He went to Europe on a motorcycle journey together with his long-standing Albanian secretary and lover Bajazid Elmaz Doda to study fossils. He later returned to Vienna where he ran into financial difficulties again and was distracted in his work. To cover his debts, he sold his fossil collection to the Natural History Museum in London. Nopcsa struggled with illness, to the extent that he had to give a lecture in a wheelchair in 1928. Soon Nopcsa became depressed. Finally, in 1933, he fatally shot first his partner, Bayazid Elmas Doda, after having slipped sleeping powder into his tea. He then wrote a suicide note, where he states the reason for his actions a nervous breakdown, and shot himself. He was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering in Vienna, and his ashes buried there (Section 3, Ring 3, Group 8, No. 44). In his suicide note, he describes his reasons for killing his lover: