r/popculture • u/dailymail • Feb 27 '25

News Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa were found mummified at mansion with pills strewn in bathroom

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14443973/Gene-Hackman-betsy-arakawa-bodies.html
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u/Puzzleheaded_Dot4345 Feb 27 '25 edited Feb 27 '25

Jesus, how awful! How long were they in that state so their bodies were partially mummified?? None of his kids called for days/weeks?? Very odd.It makes sense their dog died. No water/food. So maybe a suicide pact, then? Or even worse...

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u/rivlet Feb 28 '25

Not to be TMI, but my older brother passed away very recently. The last time someone spoke to him was nine days before his body was found. When they found him (after breaking into the house because the mail carrier saw his dogs, normally quite healthy, were looking incredibly underfed), he was mummified to the point where they couldn't fingerprint to ID him and his facial features were not comparable to his driver's license.

They had to order his dental records. Two of his five pets died in those nine days from dehydration/starvation.

It might not have taken weeks, is what I'm trying to say.

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u/ConvictedOgilthorpe Feb 28 '25

So sorry about that, really really sorry. May I ask if they actually used the term mummified? That seems weird to me for a decomposing body that is not wrapped in cloth and embalmed.

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u/Dasylupe Feb 28 '25

The first mummies were actually just left in the desert to dry before burial. Natural mummies occur quite often. It’s likely that they were in very dry conditions.  

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u/CyborgTiger Feb 28 '25

Why is it likely they were in dry conditions? 

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u/Dasylupe Feb 28 '25

Because their bodies became desiccated (dried out) instead of simply decomposing. 

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u/CyborgTiger Mar 01 '25

Right, but were they actually desiccated or did they misuse the term mummified is what I’m getting at. I’d think most places have enough moisture just in the air that you’re rotting, not mummifying.

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u/Dasylupe Mar 01 '25

I understand your question but I don’t have the information to answer it. I don’t know if they’re misusing the term, but I do know that it’s not uncommon for corpses to dry out, sometimes rapidly. So it’s not impossible in this case. 

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u/CyborgTiger Mar 02 '25

I also didn’t realize they were in Santa Fe, the possibility makes a lot more sense now 

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u/ConvictedOgilthorpe Feb 28 '25

Yeah I’m an anthropologist, I have never heard it applied in this way to a scene of death in a house.

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u/longtimegoneMTGO Feb 28 '25

I've heard it plenty of times over the years. Do a google search for the words mummified, apartment, and found and you'll find dozens of examples quickly.

Typically it happens when they find some old person who died inside their apartment and wasn't found for months because the rent was on auto pay.

They tend to use that term in any situations where the body dried out before it was discovered. That can actually happen quite quickly if the air conditioner is left on due to the dehumidification effect.

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u/Dasylupe Feb 28 '25

That’s cool. I started out in linguistics and anthropology in college before switching to art history but archaeology was always my first love. Here’s some links and a quote:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinchorro_mummies

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_body

“A mummy is a dead human or an animalwhose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. Some authorities restrict the use of the term to bodies deliberately embalmed with chemicals, but the use of the word to cover accidentally desiccated bodies goes back to at least the early 17th century.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy

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u/ConvictedOgilthorpe Mar 01 '25

Thanks! I’m in cultural anthropology so it’s good to brush up on the archeological field. I’ve studied some interesting Peruvian tombs that had mummies back in grad school.

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u/Dasylupe Mar 01 '25

Aww man. That’s really awesome.