Painful Report As The Police Is Investigate The Death Of, Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy found ‘mummified’ and pills scattered in bathroom, say police…. Continue Reading

The Santa Fe detective who examined the home in New Mexico said there was “bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet.”

Mystery surrounded the sudden deaths of Hollywood icon Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog last night as Hollywood mourned one of its most iconic sons

Police called to the house of Gene Hackman found his wife showing signs of “mummification” when deputies executed a search warrant.

The Santa Fe detective who examined the home in New Mexico said there was “bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet.”

A body exposed to the elements can naturally mummify in a matter of weeks to several months. It is dependent on environmental conditions, particularly the temperature and humidity, with very dry, hot climates facilitating the fastest process.

Betsy Arakawa, 63, was found lying on her right side in a ground-floor bathroom with a black space heater near her head.

Police noticed an opened orange prescription bottle left on the counter with pills scattered on the surface.

Due to the state of her body, authorities believe Arakawa may have been dead for some time before police found her and Hackman, dead on Wednesday.

The actor was found in a separate room off the kitchen.

The detective believes Hackman, who was fully clothed, may have fallen as his glasses were thrown from his body.

Questions were being asked about what might have happened in the couple’s New Mexico home that led to the death of two people and their pet. Two of their dogs survived.

As police continued their investigation, they said there were no signs of foul play, with his daughter suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said: “I want to assure the community and neighbourhood that there’s no immediate danger to anyone.”

Assisted suicide is legal for the terminally ill in New Mexico, although police have not yet given any guidance on their cause of death.

The star’s body was found by sheriff’s deputies in the Hyde Park neighbourhood of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday afternoon. The couple had lived in the home ever since he turned his back on Hollywood in the early 2000s

Deputies went to the secluded house after a neighbour requested a welfare check on the couple. Their bodies were not formally identified until early Thursday.

Following news of Hackman’s death, Hollywood was left in shock as tributes were paid to the French Connection actor.

Following his death, Francis Ford Coppola hailed the star as a “great actor” who was “inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity.”

The American filmmaker wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated 1974 mystery thriller The Conversation which starred Hackman as a surveillance expert Harry Caul who has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.

Alongside a photo of them working on the film, Coppola wrote in an Instagram post: “The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity.

“I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”

During his career Hackman, 95, received two Oscars, two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award in an acting career which spanned six decades.

Valerie Perrine, who starred alongside Hackman in Superman in 1978, described the actor as one of the “greatest to grace the silver screen”.

Perrine starred as Eve Teschmacher, the girlfriend of Hackman’s character Lex Luthor, who was Superman’s nemesis.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, she wrote alongside images of the pair together: “The great Gene Hackman has passed away.

He was a genius & one of the greatest to grace the silver screen. I had the honour of working with Him on Superman.

“His performances are legendary. His talent will be missed. Goodbye, my sweet Lex, Till we meet again. Valerie.”

Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas called Hackman’s death a “very sad day for cinema’s family”.

Spanish actor Banderas wrote on Instagram: “A very sad day for… cinema’s family. Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have passed away. My deepest condolences to friends, family and cinema lovers. RIP.”