Gene Hackman was likely dead for 9 days before he and his wife were found, sheriff says
CNN, CNN TER, KOAT, SANTA FE REGIONAL EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
By Josh Campbell, Lex Harvey and Andy Rose, CNN
(CNN) — Data from actor Gene Hackman’s pacemaker shows he was likely dead for nine days before he and his wife were found dead at their New Mexico home, authorities said.
The pacemaker shows Hackman’s “last event” was recorded on February 17, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said at a Friday news conference. “According to the pathologist, I think that is a very good assumption, that that was his last day of life,” the sheriff said.
Hackman and his wife, along with their dog, were found dead this week in circumstances officials deemed “suspicious enough” to warrant thorough investigation.
As authorities investigate their deaths, several items have been taken from the couple’s home.
Two green cellular devices were removed, along with three medicines: a thyroid medication, Diltiazem – used to treat high blood pressure or chest pain – and Tylenol, according to the inventory released Friday as part of a search warrant affidavit in Santa Fe County court.
Also seized by sheriff’s deputies were records from MyQuest – a medical diagnostics service – and a 2025 monthly planner, it says.
The causes of death of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa are not known. The pair did not show any external trauma, and there were no immediate signs of foul play, according to preliminary autopsies and officials. There were also no immediate signs of a carbon monoxide or natural gas leak, authorities said.
Both Hackman and his wife tested negative for carbon monoxide, likely ruling it out as a potential cause of death, Mendoza said Friday.
The couple’s bodies were found in separate rooms in their secluded house, with scattered pills found next to Arakawa, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators have not yet determined whether Hackman and Arakawa died at the same time, Mendoza told NBC’s “Today Show” on Friday morning, but they both likely had been dead for some time before they were discovered.
“It appears (to be) several days, possibly even up to a couple of weeks,” Mendoza said. And narrowing down exactly when could be a challenge, experts told CNN.
Investigators are working to piece a timeline together by analyzing a planner found at the home and cell phone data, including phone calls, text messages, events and photos. They’ll also be interviewing maintenance workers, family members and security at the couple’s gated community.
“We’re doing a reverse timeline,” Mendoza said Friday. “We’re doing a timeline from the time of death and the autopsy and the results, and we’re going to start working our way backwards.”
Hackman was an Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in films such as “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers, “Unforgiven” and “The Firm.” Arakawa, three decades Hackman’s junior, was a classical pianist.
Here is what we know about their deaths.
911 caller saw Hackman and Arakawa lying on the floor through window
Hackman’s and Arakawa’s bodies were discovered by maintenance workers at the home just before 2 p.m. local time Wednesday, the sheriff’s office affidavit for a search warrant obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT states.
A caller told 911 they could see two unconscious people through a window but could not enter the home, according to the call obtained by CNN.
“No, dude, they’re not moving. Just send somebody out here really quick,” the caller said.
Police responded to the call and discovered Arakawa’s body on the ground inside a bathroom next to an orange prescription pill bottle with scattered pills on the floor, the affidavit says.
The pills are “important evidence” for the pathologists and the medical examiner to consider as they try to make a determination about the cause and manner of death, according to Mendoza.
The body “showed obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification (sic) in both hands and feet,” the affidavit states. Mummification usually starts over two weeks after a person dies, Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya said.
Hackman’s body was then found on the ground near the kitchen in a similar condition, with a walking cane and sunglasses next to the body. The deputy suspected he had suddenly fallen, the affidavit says. Mendoza, the sheriff, later said there was no indication that either of them had suffered injuries from a fall.
A German shepherd dog was also found dead in the bathroom. The dog was in a crate, police have clarified; the affidavit says the dog was in a closet. Two healthy dogs were found on the property.
Other clues might pinpoint when they died
The couple had been deceased for quite a while, Mendoza told reporters Thursday. The maintenance workers told police they had not been in touch with the homeowners for two weeks, the affidavit says.
Determining who may have died first is a “very hard determination to make,” Mendoza said Friday. “I don’t think even (the medical examiner) could make that determination based on the initial autopsy.”
While the condition of a body can provide general clues as to the time of death, it can only be an estimate, a forensic investigator not involved in the Hackman investigation told CNN.
“Under ideal circumstances and under ideal conditions, you can make a determination or get a general idea of how long they’ve been dead, but those circumstances are often never there,” said Dr. Kendall Crowns, chief medical examiner for Tarrant County, Texas.
Even a full autopsy cannot pinpoint the time of death, said Dr. Priya Banerjee, clinical assistant professor of forensic pathology at Brown University.
“It’s not like TV where we have it to the day or the minute,” Banerjee said.
Instead, medical examiners also have to rely on electronic evidence collected by police – such as phone records – to narrow the timeline.
“Oftentimes, if it’s more than a few days, there may be mail outside that’s uncollected,” said Banerjee. “Even something like a Ring (doorbell) camera or a neighbor’s Ring camera that might have picked them up outside.”
The couple’s longtime friends, Daniel and Barbara Lenihan, said the pair was in a healthy state when they last met. Barbara Lenihan had last seen Arakawa three weeks ago at the home décor shop in Santa Fe that the two had opened together, she said.
“Last time we saw them, they were alive and well,” Daniel Lenihan told CNN’s Erin Burnett Friday night.
Because of their health concerns following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Lenihans had seen less of the couple in the last few years, Barbara Lenihan said. Arakawa took measures like masking to ensure that her husband wouldn’t get sick. “Until a year ago, he was still riding his bicycle, and Betsy had him doing yoga and different things at home on Zoom and trying to stay very fit, and she fed him very well,” she said.
“They were so delightful to be around,” Barbara Lenihan said. “Probably never seen a couple that got along and enjoyed each other so much.”
Deaths ‘suspicious enough’ to warrant a thorough investigation
The cause of the couple’s deaths is under investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals (are considered) to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” a sheriff’s deputy said, according to the affidavit.
“I think I’m pretty confident that there is no foul play just based on the lack of evidence of foul play,” Mendoza told NBC on Friday. “Of course, we’re not ruling that out.”
Fire officials called to the scene “did not locate signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning,” and a gas company crew conducting tests of gas lines in and around the home did not immediately identify any problems, the affidavit says.
Hackman and Arakawa moved to the Santa Fe area more than a decade before he effectively retired from acting at age 74. “It had a kind of magic in it,” he told Architectural Digest in 1990.
“For decades, Gene chose Santa Fe as his home, living among us not as a Hollywood icon but as a low-key and friendly member of our community,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday in a Facebook post, adding, “We were all proud to call him our neighbor.”
“It’s rare, I think, that you find somebody who has that degree of accomplishment and yet doesn’t act as if they’re looking for special treatment or recognition,” Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber told CNN affiliate KOAT.
The home where the couple was found is in a gated community at the end of a long, curving driveway. It was a fitting home for the reclusive star, featuring expansive views of nearby mountains but secluded enough to be largely out of the range of cell phone service.
There appeared to be no surveillance video taken inside or outside the home that would help determine how events before their death unfolded, authorities said. Security logs, however, could help determine their comings and goings from the gated community.
Toxicology reports could take months
Official autopsy reports are pending, and toxicology tests have been requested for Hackman and Arakawa, according to the sheriff’s office.
Medical examiner’s reports with a final cause of death usually take four to six weeks to complete, state Office of the Medical Investigator spokesperson Chris Ramirez said.
However, the toxicology report could take three months or longer to complete, depending on the laboratory’s workload, Mendoza told NBC.
The actor’s family is “devastated by the loss,” Hackman’s daughters and granddaughter said in a statement.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” the statement said. “He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely.”
Daniel and Barbara Lenihan described the couple as “very easy people to get along with.”
When the pair would host the Lenihans at their home, Hackman would often ask Arakawa to play classical pieces on the piano, and she was equally supportive of his accomplishments, Barbara Lenihan said. They loved to travel and were well-liked in their community, she said.
Daniel Lenihan said he’ll remember Hackman as an “interesting, funny, very intelligent man,” while his wife described Arakawa as “clever and witty and fun.”
Hackman will be honored Sunday at Oscars
News of Hackman’s death comes just days before this weekend’s Academy Awards.
The actor will be honored at Sunday’s ceremony, a source familiar with behind-the-scenes planning at the Oscars told CNN. Details are not locked in, but it’s possible the “In Memoriam” montage may be edited to include Hackman’s contributions to cinema, the source said.
Another possibility is a scripted mention of Hackman’s death from the awards show stage, perhaps by host Conan O’Brien or another entertainer.
In his five-decade career, Hackman won two Oscars and was nominated for five. He won for his portrayal in 1971’s “The French Connection” of New York cop Popeye Doyle, a detective who gets his man but at a high cost. He won his second Oscar for his performance as Little Bill Daggett, the violent sheriff in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 film, “Unforgiven.”
Todd Leopold, CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister and Amanda Musa contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
