Screen legend Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa could have died from food poisoning, according to a former FBI agent.
The mummified remains of the Oscar winner, 95, and his classical pianist wife, 63, were found in their $3.8 million Santa Fe home last week, but the cause of their deaths remains a mystery.
‘Toxicology – there could have been some other type of poisoning, possibly food? They’ll go through their trash, fridge … this is stuff the police can do in the meantime while gathering evidence,’ former FBI agent Bill Daly told Fox News.
‘There are a number of possibilities.’
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said there were no signs of foul play or external trauma on the couple’s bodies. The deaths were originally deemed suspicious enough to warrant a full investigation but cops no longer believe anyone else was involved.
One of three of couple’s dogs was found dead inside a kennel in a bathroom. The other two were found healthy, roaming around.
Detectives found an orange prescription bottle by Arakawa’s body, two cellphones and a 2025 planner while searching the couple’s home, per Fox News Digital.
Hackman’s pacemaker las recorded him alive on February 17 – nine days before his body was found.
A former FBI agent has put forward the theory that Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy died from food poisoning. They are seen in 2024
Police are seen outside the couple’s Santa Fe home. The cause of their deaths remains unknown
Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s. They are seen in 2003
‘An initial interrogation was conducted of Mr. Hackman’s pacemaker. This revealed that his last event was recorded on Feb. 17, 2025,’ Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a press conference on Friday.
Police do not suspect foul play, despite the front door being found ‘ajar.’ There were no signs of forced entry into the home.
‘I think I’m pretty confident that there is no foul play just based on the lack of evidence,’ Mendoza later told Today. ‘But, of course, we’re not ruling that out.’
Suspicions the couple and their pooch died from a gas leak have been ruled out by the Santa Fe Fire Department, according to Chief Brian Moya.
The case is shrouded in the kind of intrigue reserved for Hackman’s detective thriller novels and has garnered international attention – with many wondering how their deaths went unnoticed for so long.
Neighbors in their gated private community off a winding canyon road five miles outside of Santa Fe told The New York Times that despite living with the celebrity couple for years, most of them never even caught a glimpse of them.
Hackman was in a mud room off the kitchen. His sunglasses and cane were on the floor and it has been suggested the actor had suffered a fall.
One of three of couple’s dogs was found dead inside a kennel in a bathroom. The other two were found healthy, roaming around. The couple is seen in 2005
Morgan Freeman speaks about Gene Hackman with an image of Gene Hackman on the screen during the Oscars on Sunday
Hackman, a two-time Oscar winner with an estimated net worth of $80million, just turned 95 in late January. He became a recluse in the last 20 years of his life, after retiring from acting in 2004. He packed up his things, left Los Angeles for a quiet life in New Mexico – and he never looked back.
Friends occasionally shared glimpses of his post-acting life, including social media shots of fishing expeditions – while paying tribute to his silver screen triumphs. He would also occasionally be spotted pedaling around Santa Fe on a bicycle.
The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.
Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.
