The discovery on Wednesday, February 26th of the bodies of that fine actor Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and one of their three dogs in their gated community home just outside Santa Fe has many of the kinds of the features that characterize the crime stories that I read and watch. Here are just are the main features from one newspaper report and you will quickly note many puzzling, even contradictory, elements of the narrative.
The Santa Fe county sheriff, Adan Mendoza, said he spoke on Friday with the pathologist from the New Mexico office of the medical investigator, who said that both Hackman and Arakawa tested negative for carbon monoxide.
The last recorded activity on Hackman’s pacemaker was on 17 February. Mendoza said it was a “good assumption” that was the last day of the actor’s life.
Officials had said earlier on Friday that initial autopsies had found that the actor and his wife suffered no external trauma.
…Maintenance workers found the couple’s bodies at their home on Wednesday, along with one of their three German shepherd dogs, who was also found dead.
…Meanwhile the sheriff of Santa Fe county, Adan Mendoza, had also revealed that the couple had been dead for “quite a while” before they were found. The two maintenance workers who made the grim discovery said the last time they had been in touch with Hackman and Arakawa was two weeks previously.
…The sheriff’s office has reported that when the deceased were found the front door was open, although there were no signs of foul play, and no obvious evidence of a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning.
…Hackman, 95, appeared to have fallen in an entryway, a deputy said, and a cane was found nearby. Arakawa, 65, was found in an upstairs bathroom with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a nearby countertop. The dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet.
“There was no indication of a struggle,” Mendoza said. “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.”
Hackman and Arakawa appeared to have suddenly fallen to the floor and neither showed signs of blunt force trauma, an affidavit said. Mendoza said two other dogs were found alive, and that those dogs were not in a crate and were able to move freely in and out of the house by a pet door.
Authorities were contacted after a worker performing pest control came across their open door but was unable to get in touch with the couple and dispatched security in the area to check on them.
“I think we just found two or one deceased person[s] inside a house for purchase here,” a caller told 911. “I’m not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in. But I see them. She’s lying face down on the floor from the window.”
Why would two people suddenly fall to the floor in two widely separated parts of the house? Was the house locked or was it open? Who made the call to 911? Were they found by maintenance workers or by someone from pest control? If Arakawa was in an upstairs bathroom, how was the caller able to see her through the window? Was the closet in which the dog was found open or closed?
One tentative hypothesis is that Arakawa found Hackman dead and then went to the bathroom and took an overdose of the prescription pills that were found scattered on the countertop and that the dead dog also ingested some of the pills.
One thing that surprised me is that report did not mention if the couple had people to help with the cleaning and cooking and yard work, either living in or coming regularly. Not having someone to help with household chores would be unusual for wealthy older people who live in large houses. Another thing that is really puzzling is the death of one dog while the other two remained alive. They would not have had any food for about ten days. The house probably has a pool that they could drink water from.
Of course, these are newspaper reports and initial ones often tend to be unreliable. A full autopsy report and inquest are likely to clarify some of these questions.
But this looks like one of those stories that will be prime fodder for true-crime podcasters.
I reckon if Arakawa had found Hackman collapsed, she would have called 911.
and started CPR
The pest control people (specific) could be called maintenance people (general).
That doesn’t answer any of the other questions.
My wife and I discussed this earlier.
Our thought was that Arakawa heard Hackman collapse, rushed to find him on the floor. Arakawa ran upstairs followed by a barking dog, into the bathroom for some medicine for Hackman. Hackman could have been still alive and asking for medicine, or Arakawa might have rushed for a specific, already discussed and agreed-upon medicine before calling 911. Arakawa closed the closet door on the dog to get it out of the way, then had a heart attack (or aneurysm) herself from the stress and exertion. The dog starved to death over a few days while locked in the closet.
The front door could have been opened by Hackman just before he collapsed, or Arakawa in panic after finding Hackman on the floor. It’s not entirely clear where Hackman’s body was from the reports, he was “in an entryway”, which means he might have just partially opened the front door before he collapsed. It is even possible that he wasn’t even badly hurt, just couldn’t get up and died after a day or two when Arakawa didn’t come back. It’s rather horrifying to think of, but such things do happen.
When we first heard the story my wife thought of natural gas or carbon monoxide poisoning, but the reporting of the different positions of the participants involved suggest that’s unlikely.
There doesn’t appear to be any motive for foul play. But it may be difficult to determine the exact cause of death for bodies lying in New Mexico for a couple weeks. After this amount of time it may be impossible to tell who died first.
But I suspect this is more tragic than criminal. An accident/suicide seems unlikely, if for no other reason than Arakawa wouldn’t have trapped one of the dogs in a closet if she decided to take her own life. If she had trapped all three dogs, maybe, that might show premeditation, but not one of the three.
Was the prescription for him or for her? If they’ve got the labs back on CO, was that prescription drug found in her blood at lethal levels or at all? Assuming they bothered to test. What killed the dog? Both the investigation and reporting seem lacking.
I’m fascinated by this as well. In the most recent news accounts I read, none of the medications were of the suicide type. It was Tylenol, blood pressure, and thyroid medications. CO poisoning would have been detected already, and the scene has been examined for CO and other gas leaks. The whole thing is so bizarre that I don’t think we’ll have any chance of getting answers until full autopsies are concluded, at a minimum.
As far as when the deaths happened, the most recent NY Times update says Gene Hackman’s pacemaker suggests he died on Feb. 17.
In my mind’s eye, I see Mano. In a crumpled raincoat. He takes one last look at the incident scene. Puts away his notebook, says, “Thank you very much, I’ll see myself out”. He goes to the door, but then he pauses; turns. And with an almost triumphal gleam in his eye, says, “Just one more thing I’m sure you can clear up for me…”
(I mean, c’mon people. Ask yourself: Have you ever seen Mrs Singham? Coincidence?)
I think Flex’s scenario sounds the most likely, given that there’s no indication of foul play. Trapped in a closet with no food or water, the dog also died--there should be claw marks on the door to prove it. The other dogs ere able to freely leave the house and could have caught their own prey--rabbits, mice, voles, etc.
I’m also asking why an elderly couple in a large house did not have routine housecleaners/chefs to stop by? We had a neighbor who was 97 and lived in his home alone after his wife died, but he had several generations of family living on the same street and there was always someone in his house every day cooking and cleaning and taking him to doctor appointments or out to his favorite restaurant for a treat.
His wife was only 65, which seems pretty young to need a regular check-in. I’m sure they both thought she was keeping an eye on him.
I usually skip everything connected with the entertainment industry(ies), but our esteemed host, well-versed in detective stories, has laid out an interesting puzzle.
My questions:
What kind of pills? The sheriff has many good reasons not to disclose that now, but emergency meds (per the flex scenario) or lethal/illegal drugs (per what most of the US Hollywood-trained public prob’ly suspects), would make all the difference.
What (with apologies to A. C. Doyle*) of the dogs who did not howl their grief for ~9 days? (Or is Casa Hackman so well-acred/fenced no neighbors could hear, except that caller able to see her through the window?)
*No known relation to one of Hackman’s major roles.
… when the deceased were found the front door was open …, yet …a caller told 911. “I’m not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in.
{beep!} Definitely time to pose a shrewd question, &/or pull out the rubber hoses.
… the death of one dog while the other two remained alive.
flex has the best answer to that so far.
They would not have had any food for about ten days.
Perhaps a big auto-feeder? Handfeeding 3 shepherds would get tiresome quickly.
The house probably has a pool that they could drink water from.
Or an automatic waterer too. For that matter, I’d expect sheps could figure how to open a toilet lid (maybe not how to keep it open).
flex @ # 3: … bodies lying in New Mexico for a couple weeks.
Santa Fe: 7,198 feet (2,194 meters) above sea level, per the WikiThing. February. No way they even had a window open. It would all depend on how they had set the thermostat &/or humidifier.
Personally, I suspect Alec Baldwin: documented killer seen to travel that region, probably known to both victims, having legal problems providing a motive to generate distraction, and maybe even jealous of the deceaseds’ fame & talent. Maybe even has a body double to assist with alibi-making.
GENERAL PURPOSE TRIGGER WARNING, except for James Ellroy fans: (I decided to delete an anecdote. Rough world out there… The worse-case scenarios would’ve leaked by now, so I hope we can safely scratch those.)