Investigators into the deaths of Oscar winner Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa believe Hackman may have been dead for nine days by the time the couple were found in their New Mexico home on Wednesday.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told a press conference earlier on Friday that the “last event” of Hackman’s pacemaker was on February 17. “According to the pathologist that is a very good assumption that that was his last day of life,” said Mendoza.
The officer added that an autopsy found no external trauma to either person and no evidence of death by carbon monoxide. The manner and cause of death are yet to be determined and results of the autopsy and toxicology report are pending.
The couples’ cell phones and other items have been collected as the investigation continues, and officers were not aware of a surveillance camera system on the property in Santa Fe where Hackman, 95, and his classical pianist wife Arakawa, 63, lived a private life.
The couple and a German Shepherd dog were found dead in separate rooms by a maintenance worker at their home.
According to an affidavit for a search warrant that was granted swiftly, the body of a man was found in a mud room clad in gray sweatpants, a blue long-sleeve T-shirt, and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking stick were nearby and officers said it appeared Hackman may have experienced a sudden fall.
The body of a woman was discovered in a bathroom wearing dark gray sweatpants and a light sweatshirt. There was a space heater near Arakawa’s head which an attending officer said could have fallen in the event the woman abruptly fell to the ground. Two healthy dogs were alive on the property when police arrived on the scene.
There was also an orange prescription bottle on the countertop near the body that appeared to be open, with pills scattered on the countertop.
Over the course of a long career, Hackman won two Academy Awards for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven in 1993. He was additionally nominated for Oscars for Bonnie And Clyde, I Never Sang For My Father, and Mississippi Burning.
He won the 1989 Berlin Silver Bear for Mississippi Burning and career credits included the Superman films, The Royal Tenenbaums, and No Way Out.
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