Authorities in New Mexico are expected to provide an update Friday on the investigation into the death of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. Investigators have said they haven’t yet determined a cause of death for the couple, who were found dead in their home on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
The couple were discovered Wednesday afternoon by a caretaker, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. One of their dogs was also found dead.
The sheriff’s office has said there were no apparent signs of foul play, but Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told reporters Thursday that he wasn’t ruling it out.
“We’re keeping everything on the table,” Mendoza said.
Investigators said in an affidavit for a search warrant for the property that the circumstances surrounding the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature” to require an investigation.
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The initial findings from autopsies found no signs of external trauma on either body, according to the sheriff’s office.
“There was no indication of a struggle,” Mendoza told reporters. “There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed, you know, that would be indication that there was a crime that had occurred, there was no indication of that.”
Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests were requested for Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies. According to the search warrant affidavit, the Santa Fe Fire Department didn’t find any signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning following the grim discovery.
Mendoza told reporters the couple appeared to have been dead for a while.
The couple’s bodies were found when a caretaker came to the property for some maintenance work, according to the sheriff’s department. When no one answered at the home, the caretaker contacted neighborhood security to conduct a welfare check at the home. A security officer saw Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies on the floor through a window and called 911.
“They’re not moving, just send somebody out here really quick,” the 911 caller told a dispatcher, according to an audio recording of the call.
The couple’s bodies were found in different parts of the home, according to the sheriff’s office. A dead dog was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa’s body, and two other dogs were found alive on the property, according to the search warrant affidavit.
A pill bottle was also found on a countertop near Arakawa’s body in the bathroom, and pills were scattered across the counter, according to the affidavit. Mendoza declined to comment on the pills.
