The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were deemed suspicious enough for a “thorough search and investigation,” according to a search warrant obtained by NBC News.
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 64, were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Feb. 26 after two maintenance workers arrived and found the front door was open, the warrant stated.
Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a press conference on Feb. 27 that he had been told the pair appeared to have been “deceased for quite a while.”
“It’s not normal to find two people deceased in residence,” Mendoza said. “That’s concerning.”
While the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department said in a statement to NBC News on Feb. 27 that it launched an “active and ongoing investigation” into the deaths and that no foul play was suspected, Mendoza said investigators were “not ruling it out.”
Investigators revealed more details into the investigation of the deaths of the Oscar-winning actor and classical pianist in the search warrant.
The pair were found in different rooms inside of their home after one of the maintenance workers contacted authorities around 1:43 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon when they found the front door of the residence open, according to the warrant.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene, they found the front door ajar, the warrant says, but no signs of forced entry.
In a bathroom to the left of the front door, deputies found a woman’s body on the ground, which the maintenance workers identified as Arakawa, according to the warrant.
A black space heater was found near her head, as well as an orange prescription bottle and pills on the countertop, the warrant said. Mendoza declined to comment on what the pills were during the press conference.
Deputies also found a dead German shepherd about 10 to 15 feet away from the woman’s body in a closet of the bathroom, according to the warrant.
As deputies continued to search the home, they found a man’s body, which the maintenance workers identified as Hackman, on the ground in the mud room. (Investigators wrote in the warrant noted the man’s “true identity” is still unknown, pending further investigative research.) Both bodies showed signs of death and decomposition.
A deputy told investigators he suspected the man appeared to have suddenly fallen, the warrant said.
Two other dogs were found alive on the property: one near Arakawa’s body and the other outside of the residence, according to the warrant.
Mendoza said during the press conference the dogs had access to a dog door, so they were able to go in and out of the home. The dog that was found dead was in a kennel or a crate, Mendoza said.
Deputies told investigators that after searching the rest of the property, all other buildings were locked and secured. There there did not appear to be any signs of forced entry, or that anything was out of place or taken, deputies said.
Deputies told investigators that the Santa Fe City Fire Department responded to the scene to conduct testing to determine if there were signs of a possible carbon monoxide leak. Firefighters did not locate signs of a leak or poisoning, according to the warrant.
The New Mexico Gas Company also responded to the scene, and no signs or evidence indicating there were any problems associated with the home’s pipes were found, according to the warrant.
The cause and manner of Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths are still unknown, though investigators wrote in the warrant that there were “no immediate signs or indications of blunt force trauma.”
The warrant requested to search for materials throughout the home that could assist with the determination and cause of death, as the investigators found the “circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”
Mendoza said during the press conference the sheriff’s department will take “however much time is necessary” to complete the investigation.
