Gene Hackman sheriff demolishes key death theory and reveals horrifying length of time star lay dead

Officials investigating the death of Gene Hackman and his wife have confirmed there was no carbon monoxide in their bodies, and that the star actor had been lying dead for nine days until he was found.

Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found decomposing inside their $3.3 million home in Santa Fe on Wednesday the 26th.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said his pacemaker’s last event was recorded on February 17.

Authorities said it was a very good assumption that February 17 was the last day of his life due to the lack of pacemaker activity thereafter.

Officials also said that there was no trace of carbon monoxide in the bodies of the couple, and that there was still no official cause of death.

A search warrant obtained by DailyMail.com revealed Arakawa was found decomposed with bloating on her face and mummification in her hands and feet.

Hackman was found in a mud room off the kitchen. His sunglasses and cane were on the floor and it has been suggested the actor had suffered a fall.

Meanwhile Arakawa was found dead on the bathroom floor. A prescription bottle of pills was open and its contents were strewn across a bathroom counter.

Its unclear what those meds were or who they’d been prescribed for. A space heater was on the floor next to Arakawa and investigators believe it may have fallen around the time of her death.

Officials have refused to speculate further on what may have killed the couple or who died first. Autopsy results are set to take four to six weeks to be published.

Hackman’s daughter Elizabeth had earlier floated a theory that the couple had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, which authorities have now officially quashed.

She told TMZ that the family believed their deaths came about after inhaling the toxic fumes.

Hackman shared three children with his first wife Faye Maltese. He and Arakawa, a classical pianist, had been married for the last three decades.

The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989.

They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.

A naturally private man, Hackman was labelled a recluse as he remained out of the public eye for years on end following his retirement from the movie industry.

In an interview with Empire in 2020, the retired actor revealed he enjoyed watching DVDs that Arakawa rented. He said: ‘We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce.

‘Friday night is set aside for a Comedy Channel marathon, with particular attention paid to Eddie Izzard. The speed of thought is amazing.’