Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman was found dead alongside his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Wednesday afternoon.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department revealed autopsies were completed on both Hackman and his wife in a press release shared with Fox News Digital Thursday afternoon. No external trauma was seen on either the actor or the musician. Authorities continue to investigate the couple’s deaths as official results of the autopsy and toxicology reports are still pending.
Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests were ordered for both Hackman and his wife as the manner and cause of death have not been determined.
HOLLYWOOD STARS WHO DIED IN 2025: PHOTOS
A harrowing 911 call, obtained by Fox News Channel, was made by a distressed maintenance worker after the man discovered the bodies of Hackman and his wife.
The employee frantically pleaded for police to immediately rush to the New Mexico residence.
In the recording, the man can be heard telling the operator that he “found two or one deceased person[s] inside a house.”
“Please send somebody really quick,” the caller urged.
LISTEN: GENE HACKMAN 911 CALL
While the dispatcher called the paramedics, the man was heard crying and repeatedly said, “Damn.”
“[The house] is closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in,” he said. “But I see that she is lying down on the floor from the window.”
The caller told the dispatcher that Hackman and his wife were not “awake” or “alert.”
“No, dude, they’re not moving! Just send somebody out here really quick!” the man on the 911 call said with urgency.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference regarding the investigation on Thursday.
“A search warrant was executed just before 10 p.m. last night. They’ve been working diligently through the night and starting again in the morning to completely process the scene. We’re still in the preliminary steps of the investigation,” authorities said.
A search warrant affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital revealed that Hackman’s wife was found decomposed with bloating on her face and mummification in her hands and feet.
Hackman was found to have the same signs of decomposition as his wife.
WATCH: NEW MEXICO SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT DISCUSSING GENE HACKMAN’S DEATH IN A PRESS CONFERENCE
Hackman’s daughter Leslie told Fox News Digital on Thursday that although her father “was 95, he was in very good health,” adding that he did yoga and Pilates regularly.
Hackman said she hadn’t seen her father in a “few years,” only because he no longer traveled much, and she lives in California, but she said they were close and had “been in touch over the last couple of months.”
“I loved him dearly,” she said over the phone. “He was a genuinely good-hearted person.”
Leslie said she had been “kind of mentally preparing” herself for his death because of his age, but she said it was “very shocking” to hear about his wife’s death because she was only 63.
“We don’t understand what happened,” she said.
Leslie said that their family is waiting to hear from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office about their causes of death, adding that authorities had told them that they had been in contact with the fire department about possible carbon monoxide poisoning, and they are waiting to hear back about that.
GENE HACKMAN DEAD AT 95: HIS LIFE IN PHOTOS
Detectives believe that the circumstances surrounding the death of Hackman and his wife are suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.
When two Santa Fe County patrol deputies arrived at the scene, they walked to the front of the residence and found the front door ajar. They did not observe any signs of forced entry into the home, according to the warrant.
After they entered the residence, they immediately observed a bathroom to the left of the front door. The door to the bathroom was opened, and they discovered the body of Hackman’s wife lying on the floor.
An orange prescription bottle was also found near Arakawa. The prescription bottle appeared open, with pills scattered on the countertop.
Police said she showed obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet.
The deceased dog was found near her body in a closet of the bathroom, but two healthy dogs were also on the property. One was running loose, while the other was seen near Arakawa’s body.
The warrant stated that there were “no obvious signs of a gas leak.”
READ SEARCH WARRANT AFFIDAVIT:
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed with Fox News Digital separately that the gas company and fire department additionally responded to make sure there were no toxic fumes that would endanger the deputies during their search.
The New Mexico Gas Co. is working with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation.
During their investigation, the sheriff did not discover any visible trauma on Hackman or his wife and said they could have been victims of a double homicide, suicide, accidental death or natural causes.
Hackman was 95 at the time of his death, and his wife 63.
Hackman’s daughters and granddaughter shared a statement to Fox News Digital regarding his death: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy. He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital early Thursday morning, “On February 26, 2025, at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park, where Gene Hackman, 95 and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased.”
Hackman was best known for his Oscar-winning performances in “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven.” He appeared as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
WATCH: NEW DETAILS IN GENE HACKMAN DEATH, PILL BOTTLES FOUND ON SCENE
Hackman also had a breakout performance in “Bonnie and Clyde,” a comic interlude in “Young Frankenstein,” a turn as the comic book villain Lex Luthor in “Superman” and a leading role in Wes Anderson’s 2001 “The Royal Tenenbaums.”
“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Francis Ford Coppola, who wrote and directed the 1974 film “The Conversation” — which Hackman starred in — wrote on Instagram. “I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”
Eugene Alden Hackman was born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California, and grew up in Danville, Illinois, where his father worked as a pressman for the Commercial-News. His parents fought repeatedly, and his father often used his fists on Gene to take out his rage, according to The Associated Press. The boy found refuge in movie houses, identifying with Errol Flynn and James Cagney as his role models.
When Gene was 13, his father waved goodbye and drove off, never to return. The abandonment was a lasting injury to Gene. His mother had become an alcoholic and was constantly at odds with her mother, with whom the shattered family lived (Gene had a younger brother). At 16, he “suddenly got the itch to get out.” Lying about his age, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines.
MOURNING LIAM PAYNE: CELEBRITY DEATHS CAN CAUSE VERY REAL GRIEF, EXPERTS SAY
An article on the Department of Defense’s website said doing that “was a fairly common practice before the advent of computer records” and that Hackman served from 1947 to 1952 as a field radio operator and broadcast journalist.
“In the 1940s, he was stationed in Qingdao, China, and then Shanghai. Part of his duties, he said, was destroying Japanese military equipment so that the communists couldn’t obtain it,” the article also reads.
With a high school diploma he earned during his time as a Marine, Hackman studied journalism at the University of Illinois. He dropped out after six months to study radio announcing in New York. After working at stations in Florida and his hometown of Danville, he returned to New York to study painting at the Art Students League. Hackman switched again to enter an acting course at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Back in New York, he found work as a doorman and truck driver, among other jobs, while waiting for a break as an actor.
Summer work at a theater on Long Island led to roles off-Broadway. Hackman began attracting attention from Broadway producers, and he received good notices in such plays as “Any Wednesday,” with Sandy Dennis, and “Poor Richard,” with Alan Bates.
Hackman’s first starring film role came in 1970 with “I Never Sang for My Father,” as a man struggling to deal with a failed relationship with his dying father, Melvyn Douglas.
In 1956, Hackman married Fay Maltese, a bank teller he had met at a YMCA dance in New York. They had a son, Christopher, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, but divorced in the mid-1980s. In 1991, he married Arakawa, a classical pianist of Japanese descent who was raised in Hawaii.
When not on film locations, Hackman enjoyed painting, stunt flying, stock car racing and deep sea diving. In his latter years, he wrote novels and lived on his ranch in Sante Fe, on a hilltop looking out on the Rocky Mountains.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it,” “Star Trek” actor George Takei wrote Thursday morning on X. “He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was. He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”
Fox News’ Greg Norman and Brie Stimson as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
