Hackman and wife likely died nine days before bodies found

By Andrew Hay

ACTOR Gene Hackman likely died nine days before he and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead inside their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the county sheriff said on Friday.

The last signal from the 95-year-old Oscar-winning actor's pacemaker was from February 17 according to a pathologist, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told a press conference. He said the cause of death in each case had not yet been determined.

"It is a good assumption that was his last day of life," Mendoza told reporters.

Mendoza said tests on Hackman and Arakawa, 64, for carbon monoxide poisoning proved negative. He said it was not clear who died first after the two were discovered dead in separate rooms on Wednesday.

The sheriff again ruled out foul play.

Hackman and Arakawa called Santa Fe home since the 1980s and were active in the city's art community and culinary scene. In recent years, he and his pianist wife were seen less often in town as his health deteriorated. The couple lived a very private life before their deaths, Mendoza said.

The caretaker at their gated community discovered the couple dead on Wednesday when he looked into the home through a window, according to his call to emergency services.

Sheriff's deputies found Hackman in the kitchen. Arakawa and a dog were found in a bathroom, with scattered pills from an open prescription bottle on the bathroom counter.

Both Hackman and Arakawa appeared to have suddenly fallen to the floor and neither showed signs of blunt force trauma.

One door was found ajar at the back of the house. Two of the couple's surviving dogs had used it to move in and out of the house, Mendoza said.

Mendoza said he requested a toxicology report on pills in the bathroom and other medications in the house, calling it "something of concern."

“That’s obviously very important evidence at the scene,” Mendoza told NBC News, adding that the report could take three months or longer.

Among evidence deputies took from the house were thyroid and heart medications, a 2025 monthly calendar, two mobile phones, and MyQuest health records, according to a police inventory.

Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.

He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967's "Bonnie and Clyde." He won an Oscar for best actor in 1972 for his portrayal of detective Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection," and in 1993 won an Oscar for best supporting actor for "Unforgiven."

- REUTERS