Gene Hackman and wife found dead at home in Santa Fe, investigation ongoing

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their Santa Fe home. Authorities are investigating the cause of death, with no signs of foul play confirmed yet.

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed on Thursday that both appeared to have been deceased for "quite a while."

The 95-year-old actor and Arakawa, 64, were discovered in separate rooms on Wednesday afternoon. A maintenance worker found the front door ajar, but there were no immediate signs of forced entry, gas leaks, or carbon monoxide exposure, though these possibilities remain under investigation.

Ongoing Investigation

Speaking at a press conference, Sheriff Mendoza stated that authorities were still in the early stages of the investigation.

"All I can say is they had been deceased for quite a while. You know that's a determination better suited for OMI (Office of the Medical Investigator) and the experts, but it sounds like they had been deceased for a while and I don't want to take a guess in reference to how long that was."

A search warrant was executed on Wednesday night, allowing detectives to thoroughly process the scene. Mendoza noted that there was limited new information available but expected to release further details later.

"The search warrant was executed just before 10 p.m. last night and so they've been working diligently through the night and starting again in the morning to completely process the scene and so this is, we're still in the preliminary steps of the investigation. There is not a lot of new information that's available, but we will try to include that in our press release this afternoon as soon as the investigators hopefully are finished processing the scene."

Foul Play Not Ruled Out

When asked about the possibility of foul play, Mendoza said there were no obvious indications but that investigators had not ruled anything out.

"We're not ruling it out. What I did state was there was no obvious sign or indication of foul play. There was no immediate sign of foul play. I haven't ruled that out yet. This is an investigation so we're keeping everything on the table. I think the autopsy is going to tell us a lot and any evidence that we collect, but I haven't ruled any of that out yet."

Carbon Monoxide as a Possible Cause

Authorities also examined whether carbon monoxide poisoning could have been a factor, as a dog was found dead inside the home. However, no definitive cause has yet been established.

"It's, I wouldn't say odd, but it's not normal to find two people deceased in a residence. That's concerning. And then there was also a dog that was in a kennel that was also found deceased. We don't know the cause of that obviously, but in our experience on working cases like this, that (carbon monoxide) is a possibility. Because of that, we called in the fire department, we called in PNM (New Mexico electric company provider) to go through the house, do some testing to figure out if it was even safe for our officers to go in and process the scene and execute the warrant. They stated that it was safe. I don't have the details of exactly what they located, or didn't locate. It was determined that it was safe. We had been going in and out of the house. I don't know if that affects, if there was a concentration of any gas, including carbon monoxide. So, you know. That's yet to be determined."

Scene Details

According to the search warrant affidavit, Hackman was found in the kitchen, while Arakawa and the dog were discovered in the bathroom. Pills from an open prescription bottle were scattered on the bathroom counter, but neither Hackman nor Arakawa showed signs of blunt force trauma.

Authorities are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results to determine the cause of death.

Hackman’s Legacy

A former U.S. Marine, Hackman was widely recognised for his commanding screen presence and distinctive raspy voice. His career spanned more than 60 years, with over 80 film credits to his name. He won two Academy Awards, including Best Actor for The French Connection (1971) and Best Supporting Actor for Unforgiven (1992).

The investigation into the couple’s deaths remains ongoing.