Police say it’s a “reasonable assumption” that actor Gene Hackman died when his pacemaker had its “last event” on 17 February.
Hackman and his spouse Betsy Arakawa had been discovered useless in separate rooms of their house in a gated neighborhood in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday. One of many couple’s three pet canines was additionally discovered useless close to Arakawa.
Their deaths had been introduced yesterday and an official later mentioned the situation of the our bodies indicated the pair had been useless for “several days, possibly even up to a couple of weeks”.
In an replace on Friday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza mentioned data from Hackman’s pacemaker seems to recommend the day he died.
“The last event [of his pacemaker] was recorded on 17 February 2025,” he mentioned. “According to the pathologist, I think that is a very good assumption, that was his last day of life.”
Mr Mendoza mentioned officers are but to establish when Hackman and Arakawa’s final recognized contact with different folks was.
“That’s one of our challenges because of their privacy,” he mentioned.
Picture:
Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman on the 2003 Golden Globes. Pic: AP
Officers will “sift through cell phones”, look at a calendar discovered close to the couple’s our bodies and get in touch with staff, relations and safety workers, he added.
Mr Mendoza mentioned there have been “no apparent signs of foul play” within the deaths of the couple following an post-mortem which confirmed “no external trauma”.
He additionally confirmed each our bodies examined damaging for carbon monoxide and mentioned it seems unlikely the deaths had been attributable to falls.
“There was no trauma indicated, I’m assuming if they had fallen or injured themselves that would have been discovered by the pathologists,” the sheriff mentioned.
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Invoice Murray’s tribute to Gene Hackman
Police are nonetheless awaiting the complete outcomes from the post-mortem and toxicology checks – which might take “months or longer”, Mr Mendoza added.
Hackman, a former Marine, appeared in additional than 80 movies and received two Oscars throughout his decades-spanning profession. He met his spouse, a live performance pianist, within the mid-Eighties and the pair married in 1991.
Tributes to the couple poured in after their deaths had been introduced, with Prince William labelling Hackman “a true genius of film who brought each and every character to life with power, authenticity and star quality” in a put up on X.
