Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a number of unanswered questions surround the deaths
Gene Hackman’s nephew has spoken out about the legendary actor’s death.
The Oscar winner, 95, was found dead at his Santa Fe home in New Mexico last week with wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, and one of their dogs. Their bodies were discovered in separate rooms of the property, decomposed and partially mummified, with no signs of trauma.
Santa Fe cops are investigating the mysterious triple death and deemed it “suspicious enough” to require a search of the property, but they do not suspect foul play. An official cause of death has not yet been revealed and toxicology results are pending.
The French Connection star’s nephew, Tim Hackman, has now addressed the death probe and theories about how the actor died. He made it clear he doesn’t want to add to the speculation surrounding his uncle’s death.
“We’re waiting on toxicology,” he told US Weekly. “That will tell us everything. It’s hard to theorize. There are lots of theories out there and I don’t want to speculate. It’s easy to speculate negative theories. The family wants to keep it positive for now and when we know the truth we will deal with it.”
But he admitted the family have been left with unanswered questions regarding the mummification present on Gene and Betsy’s bodies. Tim said: “My uncle was 95 years old at an age where you think about, “Okay, it’s time”. But from the circumstances now things have changed a bit. It’s a major change.”
It comes after some confusion in the probe into Hackman’s death as a gas leak was discovered at Hackman’s mansion despite a belief no signs of a leak had been detected. A search warrant stated the local utility found no sign of a leak and the fire department had detected no indication of a carbon monoxide leak.
However, the New Mexico Gas Company has now confirmed, via the Daily Mail, a “miniscule leak” was found at the property, but this is not believed to be “lethal”. The company flagged five “red tags” during their investigation – one of these was for a minor leak at the stove burner which registered “0.03 per cent gas in the air”.
Investigators believe Gene and Betsy died around 10 days before they were found as Hackman’s pacemaker last recorded an event on February 17. Both of their bodies showed the “same signs of decomposition”.
Betsy was found lying on the bathroom floor of the property and Hackman was in a mud room near to the couple’s kitchen. It’s suspected Hackman could have 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 Betsy could have fallen as a portable heater was next to Betsy’s head. This could have been brought down if she, too, had fallen suddenly.
Santa Fe sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed the pills found near Betsy’s body are a “significant [piece of] evidence” and are “of concern”, and that these have been passed onto a medical expert. The search warrant stated the prescription pills were common medications for thyroid and high blood pressure.
The warrant said the deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” as the worker who found the bodies had found the front door of Hackman’s mansion to be open. However, there was no evidence of forced entry into the property and the detective noted seemed out of place inside of the mansion.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
