Legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were likely dead for several days — possibly even “a couple of weeks” — by the time they were found in their home by a maintenance worker, the sheriff of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, revealed.
“It’s very difficult to put a timeline together even with the help of the office of the medical investigator,” Sheriff Adan Mendoza said on the “Today” show Friday morning.
“Just based on their body and other evidence on the body, it looked — it appears [that they were deceased for] several days, even up to a couple of weeks.”
Hackman, 95, and his wife, 65, were found in separate rooms of their multimillion-dollar home on Wednesday along with one of their dogs.
Arakawa, who was discovered surrounded by prescription pills, had “obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet” when she was found on the floor of a bathroom near the home’s entry, police wrote in an affidavit.
Workers in the couple’s gated community said they hadn’t seen the pair in about two weeks.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
