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Were Gene Hackman & His Wife Betsy Mummified? What It Means

Disturbing details about Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths came to light hours after the news first broke.

Image Credit: WireImage Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their New Mexico home on February 26, 2025. Hours after the news broke, a search warrant obtained by TMZ indicated that a Sante Fe detective wrote in an affidavit that Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened, deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property, another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10 to 15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak.” The deputy also saw a prescription bottle of pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa, and her body was in a state of decomposition because her face was bloated and there were signs of mummification in her hands and feet.

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