Police have admitted they partially bungled their initial assessment of Gene Hackman's death scene.
Officers investigating the deaths of the Hollywood star and his wife Betsy Arakawa, have revealed they misidentified one of the couple's dogs.
The initial police report indicated the actor's German Shepherd, Bear, was found dead in its kennel at the same time as Hackman and Arakawa's bodies were discovered at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
However, they have since revealed that Bear, and the couple's Akita-shepherd mix Nikita, were in fact safe and well at a nearby pet daycare facility.
“USA Today” reported the dog found at the scene was Zinna, an Australian Kelpie mixed breed.
However an affidavit supplied by attending officers in the request for a search warrant described their findings as "a deceased brown in color German-Shepard (sic) canine".
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila was unable to offer the outlet insight as to how the mix-up may have occurred.
"Our deputies do not deal with canines on a daily basis," she told “USA Today” "and I cannot currently speak to the condition or state of the dog's body upon discovery."
Hackman was 95 and Arakawa 63 when they passed away. Their causes of death are yet to be confirmed.