How do I respawn in exactly same position as when actor was destroyed

I have an AI pawn that follows a spline, and when it is destroyed I need it to play it’s death animation. Because it’s following a path, it’s not breaking away and playing the death animation.

I was thinking of making it so that once the actor is destroyed, spawn a new pawn instantly in the exact same position and rotation, and then use that to play my death animation.

Is that a reasonable way of doing it? Or is there a way to get the pawn to detach from the spline and keep it’s position?