Gene Hackman death: No signs of foul play, not ruling it out, sheriff says

SANTA FE, N.M. — In an interview Friday morning, the Santa Fe County sheriff, Adan Mendoza, said there were no signs of foul play in the death investigation for Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, but he was “not ruling that out.”

Update 1:22 p.m. ET Feb. 28: Two cell devices, three types of medication and other items were taken from Hackman’s home. CNN reported that the medication was a thyroid treatment, Diltiazem which is used for high blood pressure or chest pain and finally Tylenol.

The items were listed as part of the search warrant affidavit filed in Santa Fe County court.

The sheriff also took records from MyQuest, which is a medical diagnostics service, and a monthly planner for 2025.

Hackman’s daughter said her 95-year-old father “was in good health,” Variety reported. Leslie Anne Hackman said, “There was no indication there was any problem.” He also had no recent surgeries.

“Despite his age, he was in very good physical condition. He liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week. So he was in good health,” Leslie Anne Hackman told The Daily Mail. She continued, “and I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive. [Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health. So I am appreciative to her for that, and I’m very saddened by her passing,” Leslie Anne Hackman told The Daily Mail.

Original report: Mendoza spoke with the “Today” show on Friday to provide the latest information on the investigation, adding there was no obvious sign of a gas leak in the home.

An autopsy was conducted on Thursday and Mendoza said they are trying to piece together when Hackman and his wife were last seen, but that is proving to be a bit of a challenge because “they were very private individuals and a private family.”

A maintenance worker called the police when he found their bodies. He said the front door to the home was open when he came to do routine work, The Associated Press reported. The man said he could see both of their bodies through a window but was not able to enter the house.

Hackman was found in the home’s entryway, also called a mudroom. Arakawa was found in the bathroom near a space heater, a warrant said, according to the AP.

The New York Times reported that the heater was near Arakawa’s head and may have fallen with her, according to an affidavit.

Mendoza told “Today” that several doors at the home were unlocked. One door was ajar and allowed two of the couple’s dogs to enter and exit the house. The sheriff said he was not sure if the door was open before emergency personnel got to the scene, or if they had opened it. A third dog was found dead in a crate or a closet inside the bathroom, about 10 to 15 feet away from Arakawa, the Times reported.

Hackman and Arakawa were dead for some time, but Mendoza said they were dead for “several days or up to a couple of weeks.”

Her body showed signs of decomposition as well as “mummification in both hands and feet,” the Times reported.

Hackman’s body was found in a similar condition according to the affidavit. He was lying next to his cane and a pair of sunglasses were on the floor. A deputy said it looked like he had “suddenly fallen,” according to the newspaper.

Mummification is not common but may have been due to the environment in Santa Fe.

“Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a very arid environment, and you only get mummification most of the time in very aird environments where you’re absent of any kind of significant humidity,” forensic scientist and professor Joseph Scott Morgan told CNN.

Mendoza said it may be “difficult to determine” if the couple died nearly the same time or at different times. He said there was no indication that anyone was moving in the house. They are trying to find out when each died and the autopsy will be the key to determining that.

Fire Chief Brian Moya told the “Today” show that there was no levels of gas or carbon monoxide that was concerning or indicated by the department’s meters. But the time between when Hackman and Arakawa died and when first responders were alerted to their deaths may have allowed anything in the home to dissipate.

Mendoza confirmed that there was a prescription bottle found with pills spilled out. They are also looking at other prescriptions that may have been in the home. Officials are waiting for toxicology results to come back which could take three months or longer depending on how busy the lab is, Mendoza said.

While no foul play is suspected, the sheriff said the deaths were “suspicious in nature to require a thorough search and investigation, the AP reported.

“I think I’m pretty confident that there was no foul play just based on the lack of evidence of foul play, but we are of course not ruling that out. Again, I think the autopsy results, the official results, are going to help us steer us in the right direction. That could change obviously and we’re not ruling that out. This is an open investigation. It’s a couple of days old, so we’re putting together a timeline, the evidence and the autopsy is key in that and it’s going to take some time,” Mendoza said.

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