20+ years later and this never amazes me anymore... sorry for you loss.
There is only one(1) hack that everyone should be afraid of from v1.09 ... Instakill.
You enter the game, appear in town, hostiled and die ... yup, you just die in town, doesn't matter what act you are in, you die, instantly, you don't even get to move. In Softcore, you die, you come back to life in town, you die again, repeat, rinse, you can not even get your bodies back unless the hacker leaves, so you are just watching the message screen waiting for them to leave, that person collects all the ears, doesn't matter what level you are... even level 1 dies.
Just be thankful that this hack hasn't returned.