Police say it is a “reasonable assumption” that actor Gene Hackman died when his pacemaker had its “last event” on 17 February.
Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in separate rooms of their home in a gated community in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday. One of the couple’s three pet dogs was also found dead near Arakawa.
Their deaths were announced yesterday and an official later said the condition of the bodies indicated the pair had been dead for “several days, possibly even up to a couple of weeks”.
In an update on Friday, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said information from Hackman’s pacemaker appears to suggest the day he died.
“The last event [of his pacemaker] was recorded on 17 February 2025,” he said. “According to the pathologist, I think that is a very good assumption, that was his last day of life.”
Mr Mendoza said officials are yet to ascertain when Hackman and Arakawa’s last known contact with other people was.
“That’s one of our challenges because of their privacy,” he said.
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Officials will “sift through cell phones”, examine a calendar found near the couple’s bodies and contact workers, family members and security staff, he added.
Mr Mendoza said there were “no apparent signs of foul play” in the deaths of the couple following an autopsy which showed “no external trauma”.
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He also confirmed both bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide and said it appears unlikely the deaths were caused by 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 said.
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Police are still awaiting the full results from the autopsy and toxicology tests – which could take “months or longer”, Mr Mendoza added.
Hackman, a former Marine, appeared in more than 80 films and won two Oscars during his decades-spanning career. He met his wife, a concert pianist, in the mid-1980s and the pair married in 1991.
Tributes to the couple poured in after their deaths were announced, 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 post on X.
