Deaths of Gene Hackman, wife 'suspicious enough in nature': police

There was no external trauma to the Oscar winner or his wife's bodies, but police believe foul play was possible.

Initial findings from preliminary autopsies performed on Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, show there was "no external trauma to either individual," the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said this morning.

But the sheriff's office wrote in a search warrant affidavit that investigators thought the deaths were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation."

Hackman, 95, was found dead in a mudroom and his 63-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.

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A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Two healthy dogs were found on the property.

Speaking to press this morning (Thursday afternoon local time), Sheriff Adan Mendoza said while there were no obvious signs of foul play, they weren't discarding the possibility.

"I haven't ruled that out yet. This is an investigation, so we're keeping everything on the table," he said.

"I think the autopsy is gonna tell us a lot and any evidence that we collect, but I haven't ruled any of that out yet."

He said it did not appear any items had been taken from the home.

Mendoza said the pair had been deceased "quite a while" but did not specify a time frame.

He also addressed the possibility it was a carbon monoxide poisoning, confirming the house was tested to make sure it was safe for officers to enter.

"We had been going in and out of the house," he said.

"I don't know if that affects, you know, if there was a a concentration of any gas including carbon monoxide, so, you know, that's yet to be determined."

Official autopsy and toxicology reports are pending, the sheriff's office said.

Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests have been requested for both Hackman and Arakawa, according to the release.

Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, previously said there was no indication that Hackman, Arakawa, or their dog had been shot or had other types of wounds.

How it unfolded

A man who identified himself as a maintenance worker on the property called 911 to report the bodies.

"I think we just found two or one deceased person inside the house," he said in audio obtained by CNN.

"No, they're not moving just send somebody out here really quick."

The state gas company on Thursday morning (early Friday AEDT) confirmed it was helping the investigation, in a sign that authorities could suspect carbon monoxide poisoning is to blame.

The utility tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn't find any signs of problems.

A detective noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide may not show signs of poisoning, but also noted there were no obvious signs of a gas leak.

Medical examiner's reports with the final cause of death "generally take anywhere from four to six weeks to generate," said Chris Ramirez, spokesperson for the New Mexico medical investigator's office.

READ MORE: What we know about the deaths of Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa

Avila said deputies responded to a request to do a welfare check at the home on Wednesday about 1.45pm (7.45am Friday AEDT) and found the bodies.

Two workers told police that they rarely saw the homeowners and that their last contact with them had been about two weeks earlier.

Mendoza did not provide a cause of death for the actor, one of the industry's most respected and honoured performers, or Arakawa, his wife of more than 30 years.

"All I can say is that we're in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant," he told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT).

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"I want to assure the community and neighbourhood that there's no immediate danger to anyone," he said.

He said the sheriff's department got clearance from the fire department to enter the property.

"We're not going to guess this was an accident or natural causes," he said. 

"It wasn't typical."

The search warrant affidavit suggests that police appear to have a working theory that "some kind of gas poisoning" happened, but that they don't know yet and aren't ruling anything out, Loyola Marymount University law professor Laurie Levenson said.

"They don't have clear evidence that it's any type of homicide, but they're asking for blunt instruments or other weapons that could be used," said Levenson, who has no connection to the investigation.

"It doesn't also look like some kind of planned double-suicide."

William and Mary Law School professor Jeffrey Bellin said the request for a search warrant was somewhat unusual because investigators who file one usually believe a specific crime was committed.

In this case, no alleged crime was mentioned, Bellin said.

Police tend to overstate what they know, but this is the opposite, said Bellin, who also isn't tied to the investigation.

"It just struck me as very careful in a way that search warrant affidavits often are not," he said.

New Mexico Gas Company spokesman Tim Korte told the Associated Press the company was working with the sheriff's department in the investigation.

Hackman, hailed as "one of the true giants of the screen", won an Academy Award for The French Connection in 1971 and another for Unforgiven in 1992.

He received Oscar nominations for Mississippi Burning, I Never Sang For My Father and Bonnie and Clyde.

"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 and are devastated by the loss," his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement on Friday morning.

Tributes quickly poured in from Hollywood.

"The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity," director Francis Ford Coppola posted on Instagram.

Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.

Their Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains. The 808 square-metre, four-bedroom home on six acres was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over US$4 million ($6.4 million), according to Santa Fe County property tax records.

An Oscar-winning career

The popular leading man known for his versatility and rugged appearance was born in San Bernardino, California, and left home at 16, enlisting in the Marines and working as a journalist before getting into theatre and then movies.

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Hackman's best roles were often of conflicted authority figures or surprisingly clever white-collar villains. Many held a hint – sometimes more than a hint – of menace.

His first Broadway role in 1964's Any Wednesday sparked the attention of Hollywood agents, leading to a role in Lillith alongside Warren Beatty. 

Beatty was also by his side in 1967 when Hackman's turn as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde earned him his first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor.

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Four years later, a towering performance as maverick detective Popeye Doyle in The French Connection cemented Hackman as a star. 

William Friedkin's cop drama about NYPD detectives investigating a heroin-smuggling ring in Marseilles was a massive commercial and critical success and earned Hackman the Oscar for best leading actor.

A string of big roles in dramas and lighter films followed, including playing Lex Luthor in 1978's Superman.

In 1988 he returned to the awards spotlight as Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, picking up the award for best supporting actor.

Tributes to 'one of the true giants'

"There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much," actor-director Clint Eastwood, Hackman's Unforgiven co-star, said in a statement.

Star Trek favourite George Takei said Hackman would be missed but his work would live forever.

"We have lost one of the true giants of the screen," he said, on social media.

"Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it.

"He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe."

A quiet retirement

He effectively retired from acting at the age of 74. "It's probably all over," he told CNN's Larry King in 2004 – and did not take any subsequent on-camera work.

Hackman had three children with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, but he and Arakawa had no children together. They were known for having German shepherds.

Even his most mundane outings caught the attention of the press. UK newspaper The Independent wrote about him attending a show at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in 2018. The New York Post reported on him pumping petrol, doing backyard work and getting a chicken sandwich at Wendy's in 2023.

Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired from acting about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.

Hackman told the film magazine Empire in 2020 that he and Arakawa liked to watch DVDs she rented.

"We like simple stories that some of the little low-budget films manage to produce," he said.

Hackman moved in the 1980s to the Santa Fe home, where he was often seen around town and served as a board member of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to The New Mexican.

Hackman also co-wrote three novels, starting with the swashbuckler, "Wake of the Perdido Star," with Daniel Lenihan in 1999, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. He then penned two by himself, concluding with "Pursuit" in 2013, about a female police officer on the tail of a predator.

- Reported with Associated Press and CNN