Sheriff Reveals He Thinks Gene Hackman & His Wife Were Dead For HOW LONG??

Horrifying details continue to come out about the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.

As we reported, the couple was found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday, along with one of their dogs. What happened to them is unknown. Many suspected, including his own daughter Elizabeth, that they died from carbon monoxide poisoning. However, law enforcement saw “no obvious signs of a gas leak,” knocking out that theory. Or has it been? More on that in a minute. While police suspected no foul play at the beginning, they have since labeled Gene and Betsy’s deaths as “suspicious” due to a bunch of new evidence.

There are a lot of unanswered questions at this time. But what we do know now is that Betsy and Gene’s deaths did not just happen. They may have been gone for quite some time. During an appearance on the Today Show on Friday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza opened up about the case, sharing the possible timeline of their passing. And it’s shocking! He said:

“It’s very difficult to put a timeline together even with the help of the office of the medical investigator. 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.”

“A couple of weeks!” What!

That does track with what we’ve heard so far. As you may recall, two maintenance workers discovered their bodies and told police they had not seen Gene or Betsy in two weeks. A search warrant obtained by TMZ stated the couple were probably dead for some time since the 64-year-old classical pianist showing signs of “mummification” in her hands and feet. It also took authorities 12 hours to identify the 95-year-old actor and his wife! That is how far gone their bodies were! All that signals they had been dead for a while… possibly weeks… So sad. Were any of his own children worried that they had not heard from Gene and Betsy?

Mendoza noted investigators are “trying to put together a timeline” of Betsy and Gene’s final days alive and who they may have seen or “spoken to.” However, it has not been easy. The sheriff said it has been a “challenge” because the pair were “very private individuals and a private family.” This is not the only roadblock they’ve experienced. Mendoza shared that it also was “difficult to determine” whether Gene and Betsy died in the house at the same time or not. It’s something they’re actively looking into during the investigation, but they think the answers to many questions will come from the autopsies in the end:

“There’s no indication that anybody was moving about the house or doing anything different, so it’s very hard 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 I think the autopsy report is going to be key to this investigator.”

Until the results come out, we’re all left wondering about occurred here! That said, Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya — who appeared on the Today Show with Mendoza — expressed they are not fully ruling out the gas leak theory quite yet! Whoa! Even though the fire department AND the gas company found zero evidence of a leak or issues with the pipes?

According to Moya, some type of leak may have “possibly” been a factor since Gene and Betsy were found “several days” after their deaths:

“That was a home with natural gas in it, so it could have [played a factor in their deaths]. There’s a lot of unanswered [questions] there. When we arrived, we made sure our people as well as the sheriff were safe, and there was nothing that we found. We also went back again yesterday to do another round of searches … and we didn’t find anything as well.”

Hmm…

Mendoza pointed out that cops are also looking into the prescription drugs found at the scene. Remember, we previously reported that Betsy’s body was on the ground in the bathroom with pills scattered across the counter. The sheriff indicated that is “obviously very important evidence,” adding:

“We’re looking at that specifically and other medications that were possibly in the residence. So that is something of concern.”

If there is no gas leak, the pills could be the biggest lead here. But again, we won’t know anything until the autopsy is out — a point Mendoza repeatedly stressed in the new interview! Ultimately, while their deaths have been labeled as “suspicious” right now, Mendoza is confident no “foul play” was involved “based on the lack of evidence” at the scene. Police “are not ruling that out,” though. He said:

“I think the autopsy results, the official results are going to help steer us in the right direction. … The autopsy is key. That’s going to take some time, so I hope a little bit of patience on the family’s part, on everybody’s part, so we can have some answers into these deaths.”

When news of their death broke, who would have thought this would turn out to be a whole mystery? We certainly didn’t! Hopefully, Mendoza and his team can get to the bottom of this soon. Watch the entire interview (below):