Preliminary autopsy results ruled out carbon monoxide in the deaths of Oscar-winner Gene Hackman and his wife, New Mexico authorities said Friday, as investigators continued to pore over evidence found around the couple's partially mummified bodies.
It's still unclear how Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, died at their Santa Fe home, though authorities said they don't suspect foul play. The condition of the bodies found Wednesday, as well as new information revealed by authorities about Hackman’s pacemaker, indicated the deaths may have occurred at least several days earlier.
Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in which he played an array of heroes and villains in films including “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers” and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
What we know about the deaths
At a Friday news conference, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the initial examination by the medical examiner showed that Hackman and Arakawa both tested negative for carbon monoxide. The colorless and odorless gas produced from kitchen appliances and other fuel-burning items can be fatal in poorly ventilated homes. No gas leaks were discovered in or around the home.
Mendoza said Hackman's pacemaker last showed activity on Feb. 17, meaning the former actor may have died nine days before maintenance and security workers showed up at his home.
Dr. Philip Keen, the retired chief medical examiner in Maricopa County, Arizona, said it would be unlikely for a person who tests negative for carbon monoxide initially to later be found to have been poisoned by it.
He also said the moment when a pacemaker stops working could mark the point when a person dies, but not always.
The couple's bodies were decomposing, with mummification in Arakawa’s hands and feet, according to a search warrant affidavit. Hackman’s body showed similar signs. Hackman’s body was found in the home’s entryway and Arakawa’s was found in a bathroom.
It's not rare for a body to mummify, Keen said, adding that the rate of mummification depends on the amount of moisture in the air, along with factors like altitude and body type. Santa Fe is in the driest region of the U.S. at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet (2,194 meters).
Keen said mummification “doesn’t tell you much” when trying to determine time of death.
The initial autopsy findings also “noted no external trauma to either individual,” Mendoza said.
Detectives wrote in a search warrant affidavit that investigators thought the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
A German shepherd was also found dead, while two other dogs were found healthy, Mendoza said.
What was found at the home
Authorities who searched the home retrieved medication that treats high blood pressure and chest pain, thyroid medication, Tylenol, and records from medical diagnostics testing, court records filed Friday showed.
Whether the pills or other drugs were a factor won’t be known until toxicology tests are completed in the coming weeks. Mendoza declined to say who the medication bottles were prescribed to, citing privacy concerns.
Authorities also retrieved two cellphones and a monthly planner. Investigators plan to comb through the phones' data to analyze their calls, text messages, photos and events.
The couple was a “very private family,” Mendoza said, making it challenging to piece together a timeline. Investigators plan to reach out to family members and maintenance and security workers from the gated community to figure out the last time anyone saw or spoke to Hackman or Arakawa.
Authorities do not believe the home had any surveillance cameras, Mendoza said.
How Hackman made his name
Hackman appeared in a broad range of movie roles dating back to 1961, when he debuted in “Mad Dog Coll." Through the next four decades, his roles including arch nemesis Lex Luthor in the “Superman” movies and the iconic coach in “Hoosiers" helped put Hackman in the spotlight.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later. He also won praise for his role as a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.”
How is Hollywood reacting?
Sympathy and admiration for Hackman poured in from Hollywood legends including director Francis Ford Coppola, actor-director Clint Eastwood and actor Bill Murray.
Murray worked with Hackman on director Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Hackman gave young directors such as Anderson a hard time but brought skill to the set, Murray said.
“I watched him once do, like, 25 takes where he did it perfectly with an actor who kept blowing it every single time,” Murray told The Associated Press. “He was a great one. He was a great actor.”
Actor Cary Elwes called Hackman a “force of nature.”
“Growing up on his movies was an absolute thrill for me," Elwes said on Instagram. “To observe his remarkable facility and humanity in every role was something to behold.”
Who was Arakawa?
Arakawa was born in Hawaii in December 1959 and grew up in Honolulu. She studied piano and, as an 11-year-old sixth grader, performed in youth concerts in front of thousands of students at the Honolulu International Center Concert Hall, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 1971.
Arakawa attended the University of Southern California from 1981 through 1983, the university said in an email.
While in Los Angeles, she was a cheerleader for the Aztecs, a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League, and worked as a production assistant on the television game show “Card Sharks,” the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported in 1981.
She met Hackman while working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade.
Arakawa was vice president of Pandora’s, a home decor and furnishing store in Santa Fe, according to New Mexico business records.
Where were Hackman and his wife living?
Their Pueblo revival home, a style typical in the area, sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains far from Hollywood. The area is known as a preferred location among artists and a retreat for celebrities.
The home was featured in a 1990 article by Architectural Digest. The four-bedroom, 8,700-square-foot (808-square-meter) structure on 6 acres (2.4 hectares) had an estimated market value of a little over $4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.
Hackman could be spotted around the historic state capital, but he disappeared largely from the public eye in his later years. His hobbies included painting, deep-sea diving and, later in life, writing novels.
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This story was updated to correct Arakawa's age. She was 65 years old, not 63. The spelling of “The Royal Tenenbaums” has also been corrected.
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Billeaud reported from Phoenix. Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and contributed to this report.
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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Jesse Bedayn And Jacques Billeaud, The Associated Press
