Gene Hackman with his daughter Leslie in 1991. (Image: Getty)
Gene Hackman’s daughter Leslie has opened up about the death of her father, revealing she hadn’t spoken to the Oscar-winning actor for two months before his passing.
, New Mexico on Wednesday.
Detectives from Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a search warrant that the actor was found in a mudroom (more commonly known as a bootroom in the UK) with Arakawa was found in a bathroom next to a heater.
One of the couple’s three dogs was also discovered lifeless in the home, with the cause of the deaths as yet unclear.
Leslie Anne Hackman, one of Gene’s three children, has since opened up about the families’ devastating loss in an exclusive interview with .
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Leslie and dad Gene at the premier of Class Action in 1991 (Image: Getty)
Leslie told the outlet they’re still processing what happened as there was “no indication that there was any problem” with her dad.
The 58-year-old explained that despite him being in his mid-90s “he was in very good physical condition,” adding that he hadn’t had any major surgeries in the last few months.
“He liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week,” she said, “So he was in good health.”
However, she went on to say that his death was “not terribly shocking because he was 95”.
Leslie lives in California, and explained that as a result it had been a “few months” since she had last seen or heard from her dad.
“We were close. I hadn’t talked to them for a couple months, but everything was normal and everything was good,” she told the website on Thursday.
[REPORT]
Leslie says the family is waiting to hear from police about the couple’s cause of death, which is as yet unknown.
She and her sister Elizabeth Jean Hackman speculated that their dad and stepmother may have been killed by inhaling toxic fumes as a result of a carbon monoxide leak.
Police said the couple’s bodies had been in their home for at least a day before being found by a maintenance worker.
Police initially said they didn’t suspect foul play, but a subsequent search warrant explained: “Circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals” were deemed to “be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”.
Betsy was Gene’s second marriage, having previously been married to Elizabeth and Leslie’s mother Faye Maltese, with whom he also had a son Christopher Allen.
Gene and Betsy wed in 1991 and shared more than three decades of marriage before their deaths.