The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office insists the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are not suspicious despite multiple media reports regarding search warrants suggesting the contrary.
“Foul play is not currently suspected as a factor in those deaths,” spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told TheWrap in a statement on Thursday. “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.”
Additionally, an updated press release from the Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to be sent later Thursday. 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 two-time Oscar-winning actor and his wife were indeed found dead at their Santa Fe home on Wednesday afternoon after a welfare check was called in, per Albuquerque’s KOB4.
