Gene Hackman’s Daughters Spotted at Denny’s Following Parents’ Tragic Passing

Gene Hackman’s daughters were spotted out and about a day after learning of their father’s death – with one admitting they had not spoken to him in months.

The Hollywood legend, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found partially mummified in two different rooms of their $3.3million mansion in Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon. No cause of death has been revealed but a new theory suggests Hackman may have had a sudden fall as his sunglasses and walking cane were found next to his body.

Authorities have concluded autopsies on each of the couple’s bodies and revealed no external trauma was seen on either. While the autopsies were completed early on Thursday morning, authorities are still waiting on the full results, along with a toxicology report, and no further details have been released.

Now photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com show his daughters Elizabeth Hackman and her sister Leslie walking into a Denny’s restaurant on Thursday. The sisters, who claimed their ‘reclusive’ father had been in good shape before his death, seemed to be coping well and even managed to raise a smile as they left the diner.

Elizabeth and Leslie were seen getting out of their gray SUV together and walking into the branch of the all-day breakfast chain in Burbank, California. It comes after Leslie said on Thursday in an interview with DailyMail.com that the family was still waiting to hear about their father’s cause of death.

The 59-year-old said that the family is still processing what happened since ‘there was no indication that there was any problem’ with her father prior to his death.

‘Despite his age, he was in very good physical condition,’ she revealed, while adding that her father did not have any major surgeries these last few months.

Leslie and Elizabeth speculated that their father and stepmother may have been killed by inhaling toxic fumes due to a carbon monoxide leak. But Santa Fe City Fire personnel and the New Mexico Gas Company tested the couple’s home for carbon monoxide and other foreign elements after their bodies were found, and concluded the area was safe.

Leslie said her father had been ‘in good health’ in the lead up to his death, revealing that ‘he liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week.’

She went on to say that his death, however, was ‘not terribly shocking because he was 95.’

As she lives in California, she said it’s been a ‘few months’ since she had last seen or even heard from her reclusive father despite them being close.

‘We were close. I hadn’t talked to them for a couple months, but everything was normal and everything was good,’ she shared.

Leslie said that she’ll be heading to New Mexico once she hears back from police.

‘We need to wait and find out whatever information from the police. We weren’t expecting to have to go out there and go through the house and all that,’ she shared.

‘So we have some work cut out for us. But yeah, we’ll be going out to New Mexico.’

The family issued a statement on Thursday afternoon expressing their ‘great sadness’ at Hackman’s passing.

‘He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career,’ the family continued. ‘But to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa.

‘We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.’

The family is still waiting to hear from police exactly what happened and when the couple died.

Their bodies were discovered by two maintenance workers called Roland Lowe Begay and Jesse Kesler, who told investigators they hadn’t seen the couple for two weeks.

The identities of Hackman and Arakawa were not released for nearly 12 hours, with details of how they were found now offering a possible explanation for the delay.

A detective noted in the search warrant that ‘the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.’

Arakawa was discovered lying on the bathroom floor of the couple’s home on her right side, with an open prescription bottle of pills scattered across a nearby countertop.

No indication has been given as to what the pills were and whether they had been prescribed to Hackman or his wife.

In the 911 call made after the harrowing discovery, a frantic male caller is heard telling the dispatcher that he has found two bodies which are not moving while pleading for help.

TMZ reported that the caller, whose identity was redacted, was emotional and repeatedly exclaimed ‘Damn’ while sniffing away tears.

An affidavit in support of a search warrant revealed both bodies were found with signs of decomposition and were partially mummified.

Investigators fear Hackman and Arakawa may have lain dead in the house for up to two weeks.