During the first episode of series three of "Ashes to Ashes", the nature of his death is raised when Alex Drake discovers a witness statement implied to have been written by Gene Hunt with various parts blacked out, accompanied by Alex seeing visions of a man with injuries to the left side of his face dressed in police tunic and greatcoat. In the second episode, DCI Jim Keats, an officer from the Discipline and Complaints department, intent on removing Gene Hunt, states he believes Gene killed Sam Tyler. In the fifth episode, Gene destroys Tyler's clothes (which Alex had requested from Manchester) and the censored file in order to prevent her from learning the truth about his death. In the following episode, a suspect who is not only a known fantasist but appears very different physically from Sam tries to convince Alex that he is Sam Tyler after undergoing extensive plastic surgery, and that he is from the future. He quotes Sam's usual speech in the "Life on Mars" introductions, claiming that nobody else is real, although he still seems to be pleased when he, Gene and Alex are in the same room, calling them the 'Three Musketeers', and avoiding Alex's attempts to test him for future knowledge by claiming that such details are forgotten after too long in the past. Gene tells Alex that he helped Sam fake his own death, meaning Sam was still alive but had disappeared into thin air.