Besty Arakawa, 65, was found on the bathroom floor of the isolated Santa Fe home she shared with Gene Hackman surrounded by pills with her husband on the floor of a utility room 20ft away

He told The Mail on Sunday: "Mrs Hackman didn't die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12. She'd called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband.

An examination of the dog found dead along with actor Gene Hackman and his wife in their Santa Fe home shows dehydration and starvation were likely what led to the animal’s demise.