SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in different rooms of their Santa Fe home, and they had apparently been dead for some time, according to investigators.
Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday 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. A maintenance worker who reported the scene to police told detectives that he had “last had contact with the homeowners” about two weeks before.
Denise Avila, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said there was no indication that Hackman or Arakawa had been shot or had other types of wounds. The affidavit noted there was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.
The detective who gave the affidavit also called the circumstances surrounding the case “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
He also said he observed signs that both Hackman and Arakawa may have fallen abruptly before their death, based on the position of Hackman’s glasses and the space heater near Arakawa’s head.
The New Mexico Gas Co. 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 and the Fire Department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A sheriff’s detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning.
Chris Ramirez, spokesperson for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which runs the state’s medical examiner operations, declined to comment on whether any conclusions had been reached on the cause and manner of deaths of Hackman and Arakawa.
The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the best actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
He routinely showed up on Hollywood lists of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually any kind of role, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” to a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”
Hackman was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” in 1972 and “Unforgiven” two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.
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 wrote 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 2,300 square-foot home on one acre (0.4 hectares) was built in 2000 and had an estimated market value of a little over $1 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records. It is modest compared to the sprawling estate next door, which was valued at $7.9 million.
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.
In his first couple decades in New Mexico, Hackman was often seen around the historic state capital, which known as an artist enclave, tourism destination and retreat for celebrities.
He served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper, The New Mexican.
In recent years, he was far less visible, though even the most mundane outings caught the attention of the press. The Independent wrote about him attending a show at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in 2018. The New York Post reported on him pumping gas, doing yard 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 had three children from a previous marriage. He and Arakawa had no children together but were known for having German shepherds.
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.
An email sent to his publicist was not immediately returned early Thursday.
Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona, and Melley reported from London. Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.
