Gene Hackman, wife and dog are found dead at home

[Chuchoter]

Legendary Hollywood star Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead in their Santa Fe home.
The couple, who had been married since 1991, were found alongside their dog. Local media has reported that no foul play is suspected.
Hackman had just turned 95 in late January. He was known for being a reclusive person, having not starred in a movie since 2004, when he played Monroe 'Eagle' Cole in the political satire Welcome to Mooseport.
Born in California on January 30 1930, the actor had enlisted in the army after lying about his age at 16, serving for four-and-a-half years.
After moving back to California following his military service, he decided to pursue acting after briefly living in New York.
RIP

Superb actor.

Breaking news -

Gene Hackmanan*_ and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found partially-mummified at the couple's $3.3 million mansion, with pills strewn in their bathroom.
An arrest warrant obtained by DailyMail.com revealed Arakawa, 64, was found decomposed with bloating on her face and mummification in her hands and feet.
Sheriffs said Hackman was found to have the same signs of decomposition as his wife.
Two maintenance workers called Roland Lowe Begay and Jesse Kesler discovered the bodies of Arakawa and her retired Hollywood star husband at their luxurious million Santa Fe mansion Wednesday at 1:46pm Mountain Time.
The identities of Hackman and Arakawawa*_ were not released for nearly 12 hours, with details of how the couple were found now offering a possible explanation for the delay.
Begay and Kesler told investigators they hadn't seen them for two weeks.
Both appear to have been dead for some time.
Arakawa was discovered lying on the bathroom floor of the couple's home, with an open prescription bottle of pills scattered across a nearby countertop.
No indication has been given as to what the pills were and whether they had been prescribed to Hackman or his wife.
A space heater was found next to Arakawa's head, which investigators believe may have fallen.
Hackman was found dead in a mud room off the couple's kitchen, the warrant said.

The Oscar-winning Superman star was fully clothed. His sunglasses were found next to his body, suggesting he may have died of a sudden fall.

Firefighters were called to the property but there were no signs of a gas leak.
Hackman's daughter Elizabethth*_ had speculated earlier on Thursday that her father and stepmother may have been killed by a carbon monoxide leak.

One of the couple's three dogs, a German Shepherd, was found dead about 10 to 15 feet away from Betsy in a closet just off the bathroom.
Earlier reports had suggested the animal was found dead in a kennel. The couple's two other dogs were unharmed.
One of the surviving dogs was found alive close to Betsy's body, with a second roaming the property.
The couple's front door was open and there were no signs of forced entry.
Santa Fe Sheriff's Department has said there is no suggestion of foul play but that an investigation is ongoing.

Such a sad update @Chuchoter 😔
They were obviously dead for quite a while.

Yikes mummified

Oh ow dreadful. Poor family

Really sad but at least it wasn't a murder-suicide. Horrible death for the dog that was crated.
Surprising that no one checked on the house for two weeks, you'd expect people like that to have gardeners and housekeepers at least.

So much for his daughters who obviously hadn't checked in for weeks 🙄.

I agree. And also, poor dogs.

that news from mail is awful and unnecessary
i dont want or need so much detail

The grounds could have been maintained by people coming and going under the instructions not to disturb the Hackmans but I can't imagine they didn't have a cleaner to help in the large home.

I also think that at 95 your children would be checking in on you at least every couple of days.

Her father was 95, but her mother (or father's partner) is 65. I don't know why she should be expected to check in on them every few days.

Without knowing someone's relationship with their parents it's a bit cruel to comment on where they should have been

How sad. The extra detail was not necessary.

(father's partner - GH and BA did not have children together)

Agree totally on this - he was living with his considerably younger life partner, there should be no shade cast for the DDs not checking in every day.

He also had a son.

Their deaths have been ruled as 'suspicious'.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/gene-hackman-death-suspicious-gas-leak-search-warrant-1236322610/

What a vile response.

Are just daughters responsible in your judgmental world?

These are the birth dates of the kids - so they are a v similar age to Betsy Arakawa, in their 60s also:

Gene and Faye Maltese, who died in 2017, welcomed son Christopher Allen in January 1960, daughter Elizabeth Jean in August 1962 and daughter Leslie Anne in October 1966.

It looks like they had to rule them as suspicious to get the search warrant in order to understand better what might have happened.

ETA - quote from the article:
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday afternoon. Authorities said there was no immediate indication of foul play, but no cause of death was provided. Now, their deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” the affidavit, released by New Mexico authorities, says.

My 60 year old father was found about 5/6 days after he died. None of the family had seen him in a few weeks and he called my brother the morning he died to say he was unwell and wouldn't be taking the grandchildren that weekend. From information he gave my brother in that call, and the cause of death (which was natural causes), we believe he put the phone and immediately collapsed and died. By removing the responsibility for the grandchildren we believe he was able to relax and that his body had been holding on until that moment.

It was a hot summer so we were advised not to view his body.

It doesn't mean we didn't love him or care about him. We weren't expecting to hear from him and he was relatively young.

Please don't judge people when you have no idea of their circumstances or rationale behind their decisions.

I've been reading a bunch of articles today and it's getting weirder and weirder

@MyrtleLion sorry got your loss but your father was only 60, Gene Hackman was 95. That's a huge difference.

Sounds suspicious as fuck.

@MrsColinRobinson it's not a vile response at all and his son is equally responsible! The guy was 95, frail and of the age where he could die anytime, especially as he had heart problems. So yes I would expect at least one of his kids to keep an eye on him, knowing he wouldn't be around forever. Unfortunately it appears he and his wife had been dead for weeks.

Thing is, even if they hadn’t actively visited you would expect them to have called them, surely?

Do people go for weeks and weeks without calling their parents if they had a good relationship? And if your 95 year old parent hadn’t called and you hadn’t heard from them in two weeks then surely it would be normal to check on them.

Obviously we don’t know any reasons why etc but I’d assume they were estranged.

Maybe they don't have a good relationship. Doesn't make it the children's fault.

Maybe they do have a good relationship but they're not in each other's pockets.

They likely don't live in the same state so they're certainly not going to pop in on him.

He may have been suffering from dementia so only able to get info from his wife. Who was their own age, so they might not have been close.

If I didn't hear from someone's wife for two weeks my first thought would not be maybe they're both dead!

The fact that no one has been hired to look in on them might mean they were very private people.

I find it far more strange that she had no help daily for someone his age than that his kids weren't checking in daily.

Where is the information about if being two weeks? I thought that the time of death hadn’t been determine/announced yet?