Gene Hackman, his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, and one of their dogs were found dead in their New Mexico home on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. Hackman, the retired actor, was 95, and Arakawa was 65. The case was riddled with questions before it even began, and now that the investigation is underway, there seems to be more.
When police entered the home, they found that Arakawa’s body had already begun decomposing. “[There were] obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet,” claimed a report obtained by People, noting that Hackman’s body was found in a similar condition. Natural mummification occurs after death when tissue begins to dehydrate. This finding implies that the late actor and musician were likely dead for a few weeks before police found their bodies.
When investigators were asked which of the two is suspected to have passed first, Sheriff Adam Mendoza shared with “The Today Show,” “I think that’s very difficult to determine. I think it’s going to be pretty close.” However, the question remains: How did they die?
Police don’t suspect foul play
In a case as bizarre as this one, where multiple beings are found dead, foul play is the immediate assumption. However, the police quickly ruled that out. According to the search warrant, deputies didn’t find any signs of forced entry to their property. During the aforementioned interview with “The Today Show,” Sheriff Adam Mendoza revealed how his answer to whether Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa died at the same time was prompted by another factor in the case. “There’s no indication that anyone was moving about the house or doing anything different, so it’s very difficult to determine if they both passed at the same time or how close they passed together,” he said. Additionally, there were no items stolen or gone through, and the preliminary findings on the autopsies didn’t reveal any sign of blunt force trauma on any of the deceased.
Police found something in Hackman and Arakawa’s home that raised concern, however. The two were found in separate rooms; Hackman was found in the mudroom, whereas Arakawa was found on the bathroom floor (their German Shepherd was found in the bathroom closet). On the counter, there was a spilled bottle of prescription pills that Sheriff Mendoza revealed “is something of concern.”
Carbon monoxide poisoning is not suspected at this time
Since foul play was ruled out, the next, most logical conclusion was carbon monoxide poisoning, which can occur when the tasteless, odorless gas is inhaled. When too much carbon monoxide is in the air, it causes the gas to build up in the blood, leading to serious health issues and sometimes death. This is a sensible conclusion for what could have happened to Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa, as people often forget to change carbon monoxide detector batteries, and there wasn’t any external trauma on any of the deceased.
Carbon Monoxide was also what Hackman’s two daughters, Leslie and Elizabeth, suspected to have killed their father and stepmother, per Daily Mail. Speaking to the publication, Leslie remarked, “Despite his age, he was in very good physical condition. He liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week. So he was in good health,” referencing the puzzling nature of his death. However, the husband and wife had two other dogs in the home that were found alive. According to the affidavit, the Fire Department couldn’t find signifiers of a gas leak or carbon monoxide, but the full autopsy and toxicology reports are still underway.
