United Kingdom, March 7 -- Gene Hackman and his wife's times of death may be near-impossible to determine.

An expert has revealed putting a time on death becomes increasingly difficult once a body has undergone significant decomposition, especially when mummification occurs -after the bodies of Gene, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered in that condition on 26 February at their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home after the couple had been out of contact with friends and family for several days.

Dr James Gill, Chief Medical Examiner for Connecticut, explained mummification can make it impossible to establish the exact timing of death.

He told People: "Once you get to that mummification stage, there's nothing to be able to distingu...