Gene Hackman Was Likely Dead For Over A Week Before Oscar Winner & Wife Were Found, Sheriff Says
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday his department is still waiting for final autopsy and toxicology reports on the deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa, but has a fair idea of when the Oscar winner actually died.
An initial interrogation was conducted of Mr. Hackman pacemaker,” the Sheriff said at a short press conference today. “This revealed that his last event was recorded on February 17, 2025, I was advised that a more thorough investigation will be completed.”
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Noting that getting final autopsy and toxicology reports “could take months,” Mendoza added that initial results seem to rule out carbon monoxide poisoning as a cause of the deaths of the 95-year-old Hackman, the 63-year-old Arakawa and one of their dogs. Amidst some conflicting information over the past 48 hours, the Sheriff said “there were no apparent signs of foul play” in the Hackmans’ deaths.
Married since 1991 and notoriously private, Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies were first discovered by maintenance workers on the afternoon of February 26.
When police arrived around 1:45 p.m. MT, they found the couple’s bodies on the floor in different rooms. A February 26 affidavit detailed there was “another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak.”
It is not known at present if Diltiazem, Tylenol or the Thyroid medication later found and retrieved at the residence are the scattered pills mentioned in the affidavit, or if they have any relation to Hackman and Arakawa’ death. Citing privacy regulations, the Sheriff would not reveal who the meds were prescribed to. Additionally, it was left unspoken why there was not alert or response from the Pacemaker monitors when Hackman’s device gave out.
Unseen for much of the last two decades, Hackman won Oscars for The French Connection (1971) and Clint Eastwood‘s Unforgiven (1992), and was Oscar-nominated for roles in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), I Never Sang for My Father (1970), and Mississippi Burning (1988).
Awards notwithstanding, the respected and admired Hackman had a wide range.
The actor played arch-villian Lex Luthor in Superman (1978) and its sequel Superman II a far departure from Popeye Doyle. Along with the iconic Hoosiers (1986), Hackman also starred in the likes of Francis Ford Coppola’s acclaimed The Conversation (1974, the sequel by any other name Enemy of the State (1998) with Will Smith. Additionally, giving a masterclass in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and with Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide (1995), Hackman starred in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Scarecrow (1972), ), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Under Fire (1983), Power (1986), Loose Cannons (1990), The Firm (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), and Runaway Jury (2003). His last on-screen appearance was in 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport.
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