Sean Mandell: New York Post Reporter on the details of Gene Hackman's death

Police in the US have said the death of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, musician Betsy Arakawa, is suspicious enough to warrant an investigation. 

The sheriff's office said the couple had been dead for some time when Police found them in their New Mexico home. 

New York Post Entertainment Reporter Sean Mandel talks to Ryan Bridge about what there is to know.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Santa Fe Police this is in the United States, say
the death of Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his
wife is suspicious enough to warrant investigation. The actor was
found dead alongside his wife, Betsy and the dog yesterday,
the Sheriff's office saying, you'd been dead for some time,
although they're not sure if foul play was involved. It's
a little unclear at this point. Sean Mandel is the

(00:20):
entertainment reporter with the New York Post. He's based in
Los Angeles. Sean, good evening, Good evening, Good to have
you on the program. What is the latest with this story.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
What we do know at this point is that there
has been a press release sent out by the sheriff
in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, as well as a
released Affidavid that gave startling details about the police and
their discovery of the body of Gene Hackman and his wife,
Betsy Arakawa. Police arrived on Wednesday afternoon after a maintenance

(00:57):
for kers showed up at the property and was unable
to get a hold of either Gene Hackman or his wife.
He then contacted the local neighborhood security. The couple lived
in a very posh, high end, multimillion dollar estate area
in a gated community that had local security. They then

(01:19):
the local security then went and observed through a window
the bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife, called nine
one one, and at that point police arrived on the scene,
and as you said, there is enough evidence based on
what they mentioned in their AFFI David, that they believe
that this is suspicious because of the nature of the

(01:40):
bodies both being found at the same time, as well
as some disturbing details about Hackman's wife and the state
of decomposition that she was in, which goes to it
leads to a question about how long they were in
fact there. Toxicology results are pending. They did do toxicology

(02:02):
tests on both Hackman and miss Arakawa, including testing for
carbon monoxide, which the family members of the family have
come out and said that they believe that could have
been a contributing factor or in fact the cause of
both of their debts and the death of one of
their dogs, but it's going to take several weeks for

(02:24):
those test results to come back.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
You mentioned the decomposition on her body, Was it different
to the decomposition on his body? Is that why police
are a little concerned.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, it's actually unclear in the way that police have
worded it in their documentation so far. They said that
Hackman's body was found and showed signs of death that
were similar and consistent with his wife's body. Now that
could be that's a little vague. It could just mean

(02:57):
that they were passed out on the floor. That could
mean the details of the level of decomposition that were
found to be present on his wife's body, which included
a mummification is the official word, of her hands and feet,
and a bloated and her face apparently was quite bloated.

(03:18):
But the law enforcement noted that a space heater seemed
to have been was on the floor near her body
that may have been knocked off of the counter, as
well as a pill container that was opened with prescription
pills scattered on a countertop. So there's a lot that
is left unclear here and certainly makes sense why police

(03:43):
would now need to conduct this investigation. But it really
will come down. Even the sheriff has said today that
they believe it will come down to these toxicologies.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, interesting stuff, Sean, Thanks for that. Sean Mandel, who's
the LA entertainment reporter with The New York Times, Ryan
Bridge forgive me a New York Post For more.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
From Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
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