Hackman probably died on 17 February, say police

Actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, had died several days and possibly two weeks before their bodies were discovered on Wednesday inside their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the county sheriff said yesterday.

- GREG EVANS

The 95-year-old Oscar-winning actor and Arakawa, 64, were found dead in separate rooms of their house in hills north of Santa Fe.

According to a police search warrant, the actor, his wife and their dog were found in separate rooms. The couple suffered “no external trauma”, the preliminary findings of a medical investigation found. It also ruled out that they were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning,

At a press conference at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office yesterday afternoon, Sheriff Adan Mendoza announced that an investigation by Dr Heather Jarrell, New Mexico's chief mdical investigator, had revealed that Hackman’s pacemaker had stopped 10 days before his body was found.