Gene Hackman’s Daughter Says He Was in “Good Health” Before His Death

Authorities have been working to determine the cause of Gene and Betsy’s death. The Santa Fe Sheriff's Office previously told NBC News that “foul play is not suspected a factor,” but their deaths have been deemed, “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”

Hours after the news of her father’s death was announced, Leslie shared her thoughts on the initial investigation.

“I think I’m very anxious to find out what happened and I just don’t know how long they had been deceased,” she told Us Weekly Feb. 27. “[The authorities] don’t know yet either.”

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza offered a bit more insight on the specific items found at the scene of the couple’s death, which included an open prescription pill bottle that was near Betsy’s body, first mentioned in an affidavit.

"That’s obviously very important evidence at the scene,"

Adam told Today’s Savannah Guthrie on the Feb. 28. "That information was collected, that information was passed to the office of the medical investigator to help them make a determination. So we’re looking at that specifically and other medications that were possibly in the residence. So that is something of concern."

Adam also noted that the timeline of Gene and Betsy’s death is unclear.

“It’s very difficult to put a timeline together,” he said. “it appears [they had been deceased for] several days possibly even up to a couple weeks" 

According to Adam, who is the lead investigator on the case, "the autopsy report is going to be key to this investigation," but investigators remain "pretty confident that there is no foul play, just based on the lack of evidence of foul play."