Nearly one week after Gene Hackman was found dead alongside his wife and dog in their New Mexico home, a rookie mistake has been identified in the investigation.
As we continue to ask more questions than we have answers for in the puzzling case of the acclaimed film star, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has reportedly owned up to a mistake made early on in their death investigation! As we’ve been following, in addition to the married couple’s bodies, police also found what they reported to be “a deceased brown in color German-Shepard [sic] canine,” which totally fits the description of their German Shepherd named Bear. Except they were TOTALLY off!
Related: Michelle Trachtenberg Was Working To Expose MATTEL In Screenplay Before Her Sudden Death!
According to USA Today, Gene and Betsy shared two other dogs in addition to Bear: an Australian Kelpie named Zinna, and an Akita-shepherd mix named Nikita. And as it turns out, it was actually Zinna who perished alongside its masters, not Bear! Animal chiropractor Sherry Gaber, who knew the couple well, told the outlet Bear’s death didn’t make sense to her:
“I can’t handle that image. That’s why this whole thing is so distressing. It just doesn’t add up.”
Joey Padilla, an animal trainer who worked for Gene, took the surviving dogs to his pet facility for care after the death tragedy. And he told the outlet it was Zinna’s body who was found deceased in a closed crate in the home, not Bear’s. Not that it makes the situation any easier to digest, but it’s definitely concerning that such a simple mistake could be made. The details are really going to matter on this one.
USA Today reached out to the police department for comment, and spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila responded:
“Our deputies do not deal with canines on a daily basis and I cannot currently speak to the condition or state of the dog’s body upon discovery.”
Yikes… The implication being, like the human remains, the dog was too far gone to be readily identifiable? How awful…
What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers?
-
Categories
