Police are still investigating the mysterious deaths of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, with neighbours sharing their shock at how little they knew about the couple
Neighbours of Hollywood icon Gene Hackman have been left gobsmacked by the mysterious incident that saw the actor and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, found in a partially mummified state at their home, with pill bottles nearby and one of their dogs also dead. As the whispers grow louder over the peculiar circumstances of their demise, the police tirelessly look for answers into the couple’s secretive lives.
Despite his legendary status, Gene opted for a low-key existence away from the glitz, holed up with Betsy in the quiet corners of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now, as police come knocking for clues, the local community is waking up to the realisation they hardly knew anything about the reclusive pair, who always kept themselves to themselves.
Located in an exclusive gated enclave just shy of Santa Fe, fellow residents rarely, if ever, caught a glimpse of Gene and his wife. James Everett, the man who’s had the house next door for around five years, said: “They have a gate, and we have a gate, and we just have never even seen each other.”
Harvey Chalker, another from the area, was quoted by the New York Times saying: “He wanted to be quiet, he didn’t want to be bothered, and I don’t blame him.”
Bud Hamilton, whose abode has been within arm’s reach of the Hackmans’ for almost two decades, confessed that despite living practically shoulder-to-shoulder, he and his other half had only eaten with the Hackmans once in 20 years, reports the Mirror.
And Beau Theriot, who drops by his home in the neighbourhood now and then, admitted: “I know there’s some nice people up there, I just don’t know them.”
A forensic expert has dished out his theory on the tragic demise of Tinseltown icon Gene and his wife Betsy. Police earlier spilled the beans that they’d been sifting through the data on Gene’s pacemaker, clocking the last event on February 17 – a whole nine days before the pair were found.
Now, Dr Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist, has said to Fox News that the Unforgiven legend’s pacemaker might just crack the case wide open on his baffling death. “That event would have been a cardiac arrest caused by an abnormal pulse rate,” he claimed. “The pacemaker keeps track of the pulse, and when it gets down too low, it discharges. And that’s all in the record.”
He added: “So the autopsy showed he didn’t have any injury. There was no carbon monoxide. And he had – the most common cause of death in this country – severe heart disease, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure perhaps, from what’s been released. So that would cause him, having cardiac arrest in the mudroom, to collapse right there.”
Michael then spoke about how Betsy might’ve died while trying to aid her husband. “His wife was found in the bathroom,” he gabbed.
“They haven’t released the information about her findings, except that she did not have carbon monoxide in her, and that what appears to be from the scene and from what’s been said is that she found her husband in the mudroom.”
In a tragic twist, it’s thought Betsy might have suffered a fatal fall while fetching her hubby’s blood pressure meds. The expert said: “She may have struck her head on the way down and had some internal injury to the brain that doesn’t show up on the outside or bleeding in the inside of the brain,” adding: “Or that she may also, at 65, had severe heart disease and excitement can cause a trigger to the cardiac rhythm causing death under those circumstances. I think the first, that striking her head would be more common.”
Meanwhile, their beloved pooch, discovered lifeless in a bedroom closet some distance from Betsy, likely passed away from dehydration during their nine days alone.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
