Santa Fe officials are providing further details into the “suspicious” deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
After the couple’s bodies were discovered on Wednesday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and Santa Fe’s fire chief Brian Moya shared more information about the ongoing investigation and said that Hackman and Arakawa could have been dead “up to a couple of weeks.”
“Just based on their bodies and other evidence on the body, it appears several days and possibly up to a couple weeks,” Sheriff Mendoza told the “Today” Show when asked when the deaths could have occurred.
When asked whether Hackman and his wife died simultaneously or whether one passed before the other, the sheriff replied, “I think that’s very difficult to determine. I think it’s going to be pretty close.”
“You know, there’s no indication that anyone was moving about the house or doing anything different, so it’s very difficult to determine if they both passed at the same time or how close they passed together. We’re trying to put that information together and, obviously, with the assistance of the office of the medical investigator, I think the autopsy report is going to be the key to this investigation.”
He also stated, “We’re trying to put things together, a timeline when the decendents were last spoken to. Of course, we understand that is a challenge because they were very private individuals, and a private family, so we’re trying to put all that information together right now.”