Actor Gene Hackman, wife causes of death unknown, tested negative for carbon monoxide: officials

Actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, both tested negative for carbon monoxide, authorities revealed Friday, amid an investigation after they were both mysteriously found dead alongside one of their dogs at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Adan Mendoza said he believes that carbon monoxide is ruled out as a possible cause of death.

Hackman is believed to have died on Feb. 17, Mendoza also said Friday, noting that was the date of the last recorded "event" on his pacemaker.

A cause and manner of death remain pending, he said. Investigators are still awaiting full autopsy results and toxicology reports, he said.

The couple was found on Wednesday during a welfare check with no obvious signs of how they died, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.

However, their deaths were "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation" due to all of the "circumstances surrounding" the scene, according to the search warrant affidavit.

There was no external trauma to either of them which led officials to conduct testing for carbon monoxide and toxicology with the official results pending, the sheriff's office said.

In a Thursday search of the couple's home, investigators recovered two cellphones, thyroid medication, blood pressure medication, Tylenol, a 2025 monthly planner and health records, court records show.

Hackman was discovered on the floor in the mud room, according to the search warrant. It appeared he fell suddenly, and he and his wife "showed obvious signs of death," the document said.

Arakawa was found lying on her side on the floor in a bathroom, with a space heater near her body, according to the search warrant, and her body showed signs of decomposition due to some mummification to her hands and feet.

On the counter near Arakawa was an opened prescription bottle, with pills scattered, according to the search warrant.

A German shepherd was found dead about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa, the document said. That dog was in a crate or a kennel, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza. Two other dogs owned by the couple survived, though officials said both had access to a doggy door.

The Santa Fe City Fire Department found no signs of a possible carbon monoxide leak or poisoning, the document said. But, if there was carbon monoxide at the scene, it could have vented out of the home through the open front door before responders arrived.

New Mexico Gas Company also responded, "As of now, there are no signs or evidence indicating there were any problems associated to the pipes in and around the residence," the document said.

Two maintenance workers said they hadn't heard from Hackman and Arakawa in about two weeks, the document said.

A maintenance worker who initially responded to the home found the front door open but there were no signs of forced entry or that anything had been stolen, the document said.

There was no indication of a crime and "there could be a multitude of reasons why the door was open," the sheriff told reporters Thursday.

There was "no obvious sign or indication of foul play," but authorities "haven't ruled that out yet," the sheriff said.

Whoa, I didn’t realize Wife #2 was 32 years younger than Hackman. Yes, that could tick off the three kids by Wife #1.

Gene and Faye Maltese married in 1956 and had three kids—Christopher, Elizabeth, and Leslie. They divorced in 1986 after 30 years.

You could see where the kids were really resentful and angry at Dad for doing that to their mother.

Gene Hackman met Betsy Arakawa in the mid-1980s (often cited as 1984 or 1985) at a gym in California where she worked part-time as a fitness instructor and classical pianist. They married in 1991. There is no public info about whether they dated before he divorced Wife #1.

So it sounds like Betsy Arakawa might lured him and that might have broken up his first marriage (there were public rumors about that). By the mid 80s, his best work was behind him, so he might have been hoping to rejuvenate things with a younger bride.

My theory, FWIW:
She had some kind of medical episode in the bathroom and collapsed. The pills scattered as she fell.
She had locked up the dog right before this. (Dog was being a nuisance perhaps?)
Hackman found her, and he was heading outside to see if any of the hired help were around.

He fell down in the mudroom and couldn’t get up. His glasses and cane were found next to him. He died there, unable to lift himself. This happened to my mom at age 85. She fell in the bathroom. She was on the floor for 20 hours, and then fortunately a neighbor stopped by the house to check on her.

I think this may be a possible and plausible scenario. She fell ill, perhaps fainting or having a stroke or a heart attack and he heard her fall and was either coming to help her or going to try and get help and fell himself (it’s been said he was becoming increasingly frail) and perhaps the stress trigged a heart attack in him, (he had a bad ticker).

FWIW I had a Huskey, while a beautiful and loving dog and sort of broken house, she couldn’t be trusted to be left alone for any extended time. She also liked to eat cat poop out of the cat’s litter box or get into the trash, etc. So, there were times, even when I was home that I temporarily crated her, like when I was going to take a long shower or bath, because if not, she’d find trouble so that could explain why the one dog was crated.

Also, after my dad came to live with me after my mother died, my niece’s daughter was going to the elementary school just up the street from my house, and she would come after school and hang out with her great grand pa until I got home and or her mother picked her up after work. They both very much enjoyed their time together.

But one day I came home, and my great niece greeted me at the door and told me “Grandpa is on the floor”.

“What do you mean?!!!”

He had a bit of a cold but was fine when I left work that morning but soon became very ill and weak and having trouble breathing but didn’t want to call or “bother me”. When my great niece came after school, he tried to get out of bed but fell next to it and couldn’t get back up. She wanted to call me or call 9-11 but he was very insistent that she shouldn’t and that he was OK.

Of course, I called 9-11 when I got home and found him lying on the floor next to his bed and unable to get up. Long story short, he had developed bacterial pneumonia and after 12 weeks in the ICU he died. My poor great niece, who was at the time only about 7-8 years old blamed herself ☹

Before he moved in with me, he lived in a lower income seniors apartment (run by Catholic Charites with some HUD funding), not a nursing home or assisted living but it did have amenities one of which was a help call button that knowing my dad, he would have never used.

As far as blaming his children for not checking in with him every day, I know from personal experience that it can be a fine line to navigate.

My dad didn’t want me to help him make doctor’s appointments, shopping, etc., or other things he needed help with IMO, and resented me calling him every day to check in. But then at the same time expected me to drop everything I was doing, often at the last minute to take him to the doctors or to the grocery store.

If I tried to help him with these things, esp. in advance I was “treating him like a child”. If I didn’t “I didn’t care”. I could never win.

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