New Mexico authorities have revealed that actor Gene Hackman may have died nearly ten days before his body was discovered.
The actor, his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, and a dog were discovered dead by neighborhood security officials at their New Mexico home on Wednesday. Authorities are still investigating the cause, which is still classified as “suspicious.”
Hackman’s pacemaker revealed that “his last event was recorded on Feb. 17, 2025,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a press conference Friday.
Mendoza said it was “a very good assumption” to conclude that was Hackman’s “last day of life,” more than a week before he was discovered.
He also stated that tests had ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning as a cause of death for the couple.
Deputies discovered the 95-year-old actor and Arakawa dead on Wednesday around 1:45 p.m., according to a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office statement released Thursday.
Mendoza told the “Today” show on Friday that he is “pretty confident that there is no foul play” involved, but police are “not ruling that out.”
During the press conference, Mendoza announced that Hackman and Arakawa tested negative for carbon monoxide. According to the sheriff, the couple was transported to the medical investigator’s office early Thursday.
After leaving California, Hackman led intensely ‘private’ life in New Mexico
At the start of the conference, Jennifer LaBar-Tapia of the Santa Fe Film Office expressed her sadness over Hackman’s death.
“Gene was not only a legendary actor whose talent shaped generations of storytelling, but he and Betsy were also longtime residents of our community,” LaBar-Tapia said, adding that the couple were “deeply woven” into Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Hackman lived a reclusive life after a lavish Hollywood career.
After leaving California, the Hollywood icon lived a quiet life in his beloved New Mexico, but authorities are now shedding new light on what was discovered inside the Hackman residence.
The inventory for the search warrant, executed on Thursday, contained two green cell phones, thyroid medication, Diltiazem medication (used to treat high blood pressure and control chest pain), Tylenol, MyQuest records, and a 2025 monthly planner (calendar).
On Friday, Mendoza stated that his office would “look into gaining access to the cellphones.” We will analyze cell phone data, phone calls, text messages, events, and photos on the phone to try to piece together a timeline.
“One of the things is in an investigation, we try to piece a timeline together,” Mendoza said. They usually work from when “the event” happens and go forward, but investigators intend to work “backwards” on the Hackman case.
Hackman, who had been largely out of the spotlight for the previous two decades, underwent an angioplasty procedure in 1990 following a bout of angina. According to the Mayo Clinic, angina is chest pain caused by a restriction in blood flow to the heart.
In 2012, the Academy Award winner was hit by a pickup truck while riding his bicycle. Hackman’s publicist told CNN that the accident was minor, with “just a few bumps and bruises.”
Hackman and Arakawa met at a California gym where she worked, according to a 1989 profile of the late actor in The New York Times Magazine. A 2000 article in the Irish Independent newspaper revealed additional information about the reclusive couple.
According to the article, Arakawa “often travels with (Hackman) and seems to share his sense of humor and his preference for a quiet life in the desert.”
“Where we live, in Santa Fe,” he told the Irish publication. “You can live your own life without being bothered by the latest gossip. Furthermore, film actors are not required to live in Los Angeles. There are not that many movies shot there anymore.”
Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa death case: How authorities discovered couple
Authorities found the actor in a mudroom near his cane, appearing to have fallen, while wife Arakawa was found in an open bathroom near a space heater, according to the warrant.
One of the couple’s German shepherds was found dead less than 15 feet from Arakawa in a closet, while their other two dogs were found alive in the bathroom near Arakawa and outside.
Mendoza told “Today” that it would be a “challenge” crafting a timeline of their deaths, as Hackman and Arakawa were “private individuals and a private family.”
He added that there was no “indication that anybody was moving about the house or doing anything different, so it’s very hard to determine” if the couple died at different times or together.
