The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office maintained Thursday the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are not suspicious, despite multiple media reports regarding a search warrant suggesting the contrary and loose pills being found at the scene along with a deceased family dog.
“Foul play is not currently suspected as a factor in those deaths,” spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told TheWrap in a Thursday statement. “Cause of death will be determined by the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI).”
Her message further explained, “On Feb. 26, at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased. The bodies of Mr. Hackman and his wife were located in separate rooms.”
While there were no observable wounds on either body, detectives on the scene noted in their initial report that Arakawa was found with a space heater next to her and prescription pills scattered on the bathroom countertop, per The AP. It also appears as though the couple had been dead for “some time” due to decomposition before a maintenance worker found them.
11 Essential Gene Hackman Performances
An updated press release from the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon again indicated there is no evidence of foul play. The autopsy and toxicology reports are pending and the investigation remains open, as it stands to reason the search warrant in question came before the department’s determination.
The update comes after TMZ reported that a search warrant related to the deaths noted that a detective wrote in his affidavit that they found “the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened, deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property, another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence and no obvious signs of a gas leak.”
The New Mexico Gas Co. tested gas lines at the home and found no signs of leakage, while local officials similarly found no immediate signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.
