Gene Hackman’s Daughter Says Circumstances Around Her Dad & His Wife Betsy's Deaths Are 'Very Strange' - Hopes There Was 'No Suffering'

Like many fans, Gene Hackman’s daughter wants answers about what happened to her dad and stepmom Betsy Arakawa.

As previously reported, the 95-year-old actor, 64-year-old classical pianist, and one of their dogs were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home on Wednesday. The county sheriff’s public information officer, Denise Womack-Avila, said at first that police did not suspect foul play was involved. However, they uncovered evidence during the investigation that has them calling their deaths “suspicious” now.

For starters, a search warrant obtained by TMZ revealed two maintenance workers, who had not seen Gene or Betsy for two weeks, found their front door “unsecured and opened.” Inside, the Superman star was in a room near the kitchen, fully clothed, with a pair of glasses next to him.

Her body reportedly was discovered lying on the floor of the bathroom, with their deceased dog “10-15 feet” away and “pills scattered next to” the musician. Betsy had been in a “state of decomposition with bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet,” so she may have been dead for some time — and that is most likely why it took authorities hours to identify her and Gene. Their bodies were so far gone by that point. Horrifying. What further raises eyebrows about this situation? Their two other dogs were found alive and healthy on the property when police arrived at the scene! There also were “no obvious signs of a gas leak,” ruling out the popular theory that carbon monoxide poisoning caused their deaths.

It’s a huge mystery right now about what caused the deaths of Gene and Betsy. There are a lot of questions — ones that Leslie Anne Allen, the youngest daughter of Gene and his ex-wife Faye Maltese, wants answers to soon. The 58-year-old told Us Weekly on Thursday:

“I think I’m very anxious to find out what happened and I just don’t know how long they had been deceased. [The authorities] don’t know yet either.”

Leslie confirmed police initially believed Gene and Betsy died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Considering their dog had passed away too, that is what we thought at first as well! She said:

“The police did call the fire department to come out to check. That was one of the things they thought might have happened [was] carbon monoxide because the dog was found dead as well.”

But as we mentioned, authorities determined there was no evidence of a gas leak. That theory is out for now. Leslie continued:

“Someone, the HOA maybe, hadn’t heard from Betsy in a couple weeks so they went over and saw the dogs were loose. There was one dog inside the house [deceased] and one or two loose [dogs] inside the yard, so they called the police to do a welfare check.”

So odd…

And it is all “very strange” to Leslie, too! To her knowledge, she said there was “no indication of any problem in their house” in the more than 30 years that they owned it, adding:

“There’s never been an issue.”

Hmm. Understandably, Leslie expressed that the details of Gene and Betsy’s passing have been “upsetting.” She just hopes, whatever happened to them, that they did not suffer in the end:

“I much would have rather my dad pass peacefully, but hopefully if it was carbon monoxide poisoning [there was] no suffering with that. That’s my main concern.”

No one wants them to have suffered here. Oof. For now, Leslie and her siblings are staying in touch with the authorities in Santa Fe and will “wait to find out what actually happened” before they travel to New Mexico: