New Clues in Mummified Gene Hackman Family Deaths Deepen Mystery
Police have deemed the deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife “suspicious” after searching their New Mexico mansion.
Among the details that caught their eye: The front door was left ajar, the couple’s bodies lay on the floor in separate rooms, and an open pill bottle was discovered with pills scattered across the floor near Hackman’s wife.
Police added there were “no obvious signs of gas leak,” discrediting a theory that has spread online.
That’s not all according to a search warrant obtained by TMZ that added another level of mystery to the death of the couple, whose bodies were discovered Wednesday afternoon but were not positively identified until the following morning.
Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa in Los Angeles in 1986. / Donaldson Collection / Getty Images
Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found after a neighbor requested a welfare check.
Police wrote that the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
Upon arrival, authorities found a dog “running loose on the property,” another family canine sitting near Arakawa’s body, and another found dead in a closet.
Hackman’s body, which was fully clothed, was reportedly found on the ground in a room near the kitchen. His sunglasses were also on the ground nearby, leading police to speculate that he may have fallen. Police said they found a space heater near Arakawa’s head on the bathroom floor.
Arakawa and Hackman were married for 34 years, having moved to Santa Fe after he retired in 2004.
Law enforcement officials talk outside the home of actor Gene Hackman on Thursday. / AP
Authorities have not released a cause of death, but Hackman’s daughter Elizabeth told TMZ she feared carbon monoxide poisoning was to blame for both deaths.
A spokeswoman for the Santa Fe sheriff’s office earlier told ABC News foul pay is not expected, but she did not respond to a call and email from the Daily Beast.
Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza told TMZ his deputies obtained a search warrant “in case” the investigation turns criminal but stopped short of saying a criminal probe had been opened.
The county’s top cop added the couple could have “been victims of a double homicide, suicide, accidental death,” or may have simply died of “natural causes.”
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