Initial Autopsy Reveals Gene Hackman, Wife Suffered ‘No External Trauma’ in Deaths

Further autopsy and toxicology results are still pending in the couple’s suspicious deaths.

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa in June 1993. AP Photo

While Investigators have not yet determined the cause of death for Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, New Mexico police released initial autopsy results on Feb. 27 and said the situation “remains an open investigation.”

“An autopsy was performed. Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual. Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests were requested for both individuals. The manner and cause of death has not been determined,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement.

Further results from the autopsy and toxicology reports are still pending.

Officials found the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, in their residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday. Arakawa was found lying next to a space heater in the couple’s bathroom, while Hackman was discovered on the floor of a mudroom near their kitchen.

Police also located an orange prescription bottle with pills scattered nearby on the bathroom countertop, according to the search warrant. One of the couple’s dogs was also found deceased on the floor inside their home.

“[The couple’s deaths are] suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened,” police wrote.

The search warrant noted that the New Mexico Gas Company also tested gas lines in and around the home after officials discovered the bodies, and no signs of problems were found, and the fire department did not see signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning.

While a sheriff’s detective found no obvious indicators of a gas leak, he noted that those exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not display signs of poisoning.

Deputies were first dispatched to Hackman’s residence after a person who had arrived for maintenance work became concerned after no one answered the door. The worker called neighborhood security to perform a welfare check. Security saw Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies on the floor through a window and called 911, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

Police noted there were “no apparent signs of foul play” and said an autopsy was performed after the bodies were sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator, with the full test results still pending.

There were also no signs of “blunt force trauma” on either Hackman or Arakawa, the search warrant affidavit stated, which the initial autopsy results confirmed.

In addition to the deceased dog found near Arakawa, police also found two healthy dogs—one inside the residence and one outside.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.