Gene Hackman’s Death: New Disturbing Details Emerge

Some disturbing new details have come to light concerning the death of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.  And their dog.

A Santa Fe detective told TMZ that Betsy was found lying on her right side in the bathroom with a black space heater near her head.  Police think the heater may have fallen off the counter . . . possibly when she fell.  IF she fell.

There was also an open prescription bottle on the countertop with pills scattered around it.

But here’s the disturbing part:  Her body was decomposed and showing signs of, quote, “mummification”.

Hackman was found in a mud room off the kitchen, and police think he may have fallen suddenly . . . because his glasses seemed to have been thrown off his body.  He was fully clothed, and his body was in a “similar condition” to his wife’s.

The dog, a German Shepherd, was found in a closet near the bathroom . . . but the couple’s two other dogs were “alive and healthy.”

The maintenance workers who found Gene and Betsy said they hadn’t seen them in two weeks.  The front door was ajar when police arrived, but there were no signs of forced entry.

As for speculation that they died of carbon monoxide poisoning, the fire department and the New Mexico Gas Company inspected the property and didn’t find any obvious signs of a gas leak.

At this point, police really don’t know how Gene and Betsy died.  But in obtaining a warrant to search the property, they said the circumstances were, quote, “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search.”

And while they didn’t find any evidence of blunt force trauma, they said they wanted to, quote, “seize any blunt force objects,” just in case.

Meanwhile, the coroner’s office said the cause of death would be determined in the next month or so.

Even though Gene was 95, his daughter Leslie says he was in “very good condition,” and enjoyed doing yoga and Pilates several times a week.

Listen to the 911 call from one of the men who found Gene and Betsy, here.  And check out tributes to Gene from Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and others.

(Page Six, Deadline, New York Times)