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Investigators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are continuing to search for answers after Gene Hackman, an Oscar winner who graced the silver screen for more than 60 years, and his wife, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead at their home under suspicious circumstances.
A maintenance worker found the couple’s bodies at their home on Wednesday, along with one of their three dogs, who was also found dead. The front door was open, although the Santa Fe county sheriff’s office has said there were no signs of foul play, and no obvious evidence of a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning. But the scene was strange enough that the sheriff’s office sought a search warrant on Wednesday evening.
Hackman, 95, appeared to have fallen in an entryway, a deputy said, and a cane was found nearby. Arakawa, 65, was found in an upstairs bathroom with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a nearby countertop. The dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet.
“There was no indication of a struggle,” Santa Fe county sheriff Adan Mendoza said. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed … you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred.”
At a press conference he said the couple “had been deceased for quite a while”, but could not offer an exact amount of time. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office is trying to determine the last time anybody had contact with Hackman and Arakawa.
Hackman and Arakawa appeared to have suddenly fallen to the floor and neither showed signs of blunt force trauma, an affidavit said. Mendoza said two other dogs were found alive, and that those dogs were not in a crate and were able to move freely in and out of the house by a pet door.
Authorities were contacted after a worker performing pest control came across their open door but was unable to get in touch with the couple and dispatched security in the area to check on them.
“I think we just found two or one deceased person[s] inside a house for purchase here,” a caller told 911. “I’m not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in. But I see them. She’s lying face down on the floor from the window.”
Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.
He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. He was also nominated for best supporting actor in 1971 for I Never Sang for My Father.
His role as Popeye Doyle, the rumpled New York detective chasing international drug dealers in director William Friedkin’s thriller The French Connection, brought him stardom and a best actor Academy Award.
He also won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1993 as a mean sheriff in the Clint Eastwood western Unforgiven, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his turn as an FBI agent in the 1988 historical drama Mississippi Burning.
Since the 1980s, Hackman had lived near Santa Fe, a charming arts town – in 2005 it was recognized as a Unesco “creative city” with a thriving tourism industry. It has become well-known in part due to the famed artists and writers that have called it home, including George RR Martin and Cormac McCarthy.
Hackman became well-established in the community, and for many decades could be seen making his way around town. Between 1997 and 2004, he served on the board of trustees for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Speaking at the grand opening of the museum, he said: “In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I’ve been taken with the excitement and indomitable spirit of this place.”
The couple lived in a gated community just outside Santa Fe.
“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,” his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement on Thursday.
“We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”
