Double Oscar winner Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico last week, and police are investigating their mysterious deaths
A fire chief investigating Gene Hackman’s death has shared some unsettling details about the mummification process.
Hollywood legend Hackman was found dead at his Santa Fe home in New Mexico on Wednesday (February 26) with his wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, and one of their dogs. Their bodies were discovered in separate rooms of the mansion, decomposed and partially mummified, with no obvious signs of trauma.
Police are investigating the mysterious triple death and believe the circumstances are “suspicious enough” to require a search warrant, which has now been executed on the property. They suspect no” immediate” signs of foul play but are not ruling anything out at this stage.
Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya has now spoken out on the investigation and given a gruesome insight into the effect of mummification on a dead body. Asked whether he could tell who died first, Gene or Betsy, from the state of mummification on their bodies, he said that was an answer for the Sheriff’s office.
However, he did comment on the mummification process in general, saying: “If somebody was down for a long time their hands could be blackened and stuff to that nature.
“They could have no eyes. The eyes could have been gone by that time.” He added: “My indication is that we don’t know how long they were down. My team’s main focus was to find out if they were deceased.”
Besty was found lying on the bathroom floor of the property and Hackman was in a room near the couple’s kitchen. A police document revealed that Betsy was “found decomposed with bloating on her face and mummification in her hands and feet” and that Gene had the “same signs of decomposition as his wife”.
Detectives suspect Hackman died of a sudden fall as a walking cane was found next to his body as well as a pair of sunglasses. They also believe Besty could have fallen as a portable heater was discovered near to Betsy’s head, which could have been brought down if she, too, had suddenly fallen to the ground.
Three dogs were found at the property – one was dead in a bathroom closet, close to Betsy’s body. The other two dogs, who have been safely rescued, were found alive and healthy and roaming the property, one inside and one out.
The search warrant said the deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” as the worker who discovered the bodies had found the front door of Hackman’s mansion to be open.
However, the detective noted no evidence of forced entry into the property. The detective also observed nothing seemed out of place inside of the mansion and that there was no indication that any belongings had been removed or rummaged through.
An initial autopsy has been performed and “no external trauma” was found on the bodies of either Gene or Betsy, and an official cause of death has not yet been determined. It was, however, found that the couple died around 10 days before they were discovered and that Hackman’s pacemaker had stopped working on February 17.
There were no signs of a gas leak and the bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning, despite a theory this could have caused their deaths. At a news conference on Friday (February 28), Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said this “is an active investigation still”.
Police will reportedly be speaking to Hackman’s family members in a bid to uncover more information about Gene and Betsy’s final movements. Police confirmed to the Mirror they are speaking to “family members” of the actor as part of their probe into his mysterious death.
Gene’s daughter Leslie revealed she hadn’t spoken to her famous father in months but insisted she was “close” with him. She also insisted he was in good physical condition despite his age.
Hackman had two daughters, Leslie and Elizabeth, and one son with ex-wife Faye Maltese. The couple divorced in 1986 and Hackman married Betsy in 1991.
Gene won two Oscars during his historic acting career. The first was for Best Actor for playing Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, and the second was for Best Supporting Actor as “Little” Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
