Gene Hackman dead at 95: Iconic actor and wife, 63, are found dead with their dog at Santa Fe home. #2

[Cardgame]

But in order not to dial 911 to help her when she was dying, he would need to be incapacitated either physically or mentally. We can surely agree on that.

Yes, this.

It’s just fact that the older you get that a fall could be fatal.
If Betsy went first, which I think is what happened, then Gene even taking a minor fall and without her help to get up, could have been the fatal event for him.
Moo

 

[SMK777]

But do you mean he fell over immediately at the exact same moment she had a medical event? Otherwise why wouldn't he dial 911?

This would be horrible luck. Not impossible of course. Just horrible luck.

It could be that she had a medical event and he was unaware. And at a later point fell and called to her for help and didn't receive any response. And the dog was a victim of no one being able to attend to it as well.

 

[IceIce9]

I wonder if Gene’s pacemaker was properly maintained and batteries in good working order or if had simply stopped, causing death?

At some point a heart fails even with a pacemaker. At age 95 that would be very probable.

Investigators were able to obtain information from his pacemaker so I would say that it was still operational.

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/28/g-s1-51262/gene-hackman-death-investigation

 

[ClearAhead]

It was never reported that he was doing some pest control 2 weeks prior. If it was, can you show me where?

According to the affidavit the last contact with the couple was two weeks prior although it does not specify in what context. Neither does it specify the exact reason they went to the home when the bodies were discovered although media reports indicate it to have been due to pest control. Perhaps the assumption was drawn that it was a followup visit for the same reason, I don’t know, but regardless this ‘unstated’ reason for the ‘routine maintenance’ is surely investigated considering the deaths followed shortly thereafter.

JMO

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/santafenewmexican.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/e9/7e932158-f529-11ef-a999-7baaa12b3817/67c0957ef0a13.pdf.pdf

 

[IceIce9]

But do you mean he fell over immediately at the exact same moment she had a medical event? Otherwise why wouldn't he dial 911?

This would be horrible luck. Not impossible of course. Just horrible luck.

He had been in failing health according to friends.

It wouldn’t have had to be that he fell at the exact same moment that she had a medical event. If he was outside or in another part of the home he would not have seen her fall and might have been unaware.

Or maybe he heard her fall, tried to get to her and in a panic fell himself and couldn’t get himself up. It is very, very common for a person in their 90s to be unable to get up from a fall by themselves even if no injuries were suffered in the fall.

 

[ClearAhead]

At some point a heart fails even with a pacemaker. At age 95 that would be very probable.

Investigators were able to obtain information from his pacemaker so I would say that it was still operational.

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/28/g-s1-51262/gene-hackman-death-investigation

Not much more has been reported about it other than after the bodies were discovered it was learned it stopped on Feb 17th.

<modsnip>

 

[IceIce9]

But in order not to dial 911 to help her when she was dying, he would need to be incapacitated either physically or mentally. We can surely agree on that.

Has anyone seen whether a phone was found with him? He could have fallen and not had a phone with him. And quite probable that he couldn’t get himself up off the floor without help even if he didn’t suffer injuries during the fall.

 

[priyaya]

According to the affidavit the last contact with the couple was two weeks prior although it does not specify in what context. Neither does it specify the exact reason they went to the home when the bodies were discovered although media reports indicate it to have been due to pest control. Perhaps the assumption was drawn that it was a followup visit for the same reason, I don’t know, but regardless this ‘unstated’ reason for the ‘routine maintenance’ is surely investigated considering the deaths followed shortly thereafter.

JMO

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/santafenewmexican.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/e9/7e932158-f529-11ef-a999-7baaa12b3817/67c0957ef0a13.pdf.pdf

View attachment 567453

to me the most important part of this document is the fact that the couple had been texting with others from the house. That to me proves there was cell phone service in the house, something i'd assume was critical for them. This then leads me to ask the obvious, where were the phones and why did no one call 911?
convinces me neither was aware of each others own event. i assume gene if he had access to his phone, even lying on the floor, could have called for help.

 

[Cardgame]

"Once the pandemic began, Mr. Ashman never saw Mr. Hackman again."

Mystery of Gene Hackman’s Death Brings Grief and Bewilderment to Santa Fe

Residents mourning Mr. Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, are consumed by the unusual circumstances surrounding their deaths and why they were not discovered sooner.

www.nytimes.com

This may or may not be relevant to what happened to them, but the fact that they became extremely reclusive after the pandemic, in combination with the possible green phones, makes me wonder if there was some conspiracy thinking between them.

I know some folks who have really struggled with their mental health since COVID, and the pandemic was particularly hard on older people.

 

[Cardgame]

Has anyone seen whether a phone was found with him? He could have fallen and not had a phone with him. And quite probable that he couldn’t get himself up off the floor without help even if he didn’t suffer injuries during the fall.

We don't know.

Only that two phones were removed from the house.

IMO, this information would be very telling.

 

[IceIce9]

Not much more is known other than after the bodies were discovered they learned it stopped on Feb 17th.

Gene Hackman's pacemaker would have alerted physician if 'urgent' event occurred: cardiologist

According to cardiologist Christopher Davis, Gene Hackman's pacemaker would have alerted his physician if the last detected event on Feb. 17 was "urgent."

www.foxnews.com

If the pacemaker was malfunctioning or if it detected an arrhythmia it would have alerted the physician’s office.

One of my friends has a pacemaker and a few times she has received a call from her cardiologist’s office asking her to come in because they got an alert from her pacemaker. Once they told her to be driven to the ER.

 

[JosieJo]

Has anyone seen an exact layout of the ground floor rooms at all? I can't find anything but might help explain a sequence of events

 

[priyaya]

If the pacemaker was malfunctioning or if it detected an arrhythmia it would have alerted the physician’s office.

One of my friends has a pacemaker and a few times she has received a call from her cardiologist’s office asking her to come in because they got an alert from her pacemaker. Once they told her to be driven to the ER.

not all pacemakers do this.

 

[Sunshynn]

to me the most important part of this document is the fact that the couple had been texting with others from the house. That to me proves there was cell phone service in the house, which then leads me to ask the obvious, where were the phones and why did no one call

If Betsy’s medical event happened first and then Gene either fell while trying to get to her or in a fall unrelated to Betsy and was unable to get up - he may not have been able to access the phone from where he lay on the ground.

MOO, I think the deaths were tragically innocuous and unrelated to each other but one ( Betsy) was the cause of the others (Gene).

 

[priyaya]

Has anyone seen an exact layout of the ground floor rooms at all? I can't find anything but might help explain a sequence of events

no ive only been able to infer from the overhead i posted yesterday a few pages back. The house was never on the market after renovation.
only architectural digest indoor photos and outside photos

 

[ClearAhead]

If the pacemaker was malfunctioning or if it detected an arrhythmia it would have alerted the physician’s office.

One of my friends has a pacemaker and a few times she has received a call from her cardiologist’s office asking her to come in because they got an alert from her pacemaker. Once they told her to be driven to the ER.

Yet the physician’s office wouldn’t be notified if the pacemaker became silent, indicating the patient was dead? That would seem highly unusual.

 

[friendlysleuther]

I know!! This is what I feel the most confused about. Besty (Gene's wife) taking care of *everything* and not having even a simple house cleaner on a weekly basis? There were two homes on the 12-acre property! She did everything HERSELF? (A previous post mentioned that the groundsperson who called 9-1-1 is someone hired by the gated community?) Caregiving and cleaning, etc. Meal prep, too? And even caring for 3 dogs! That's sounds like a tremendous amount for one person without a break?

Unless Gene was in extremely good health (both mentally & physically) at age 95, but I find that hard to believe that he didn't need supervision at all times at that age! That's a lot to coordinate. If it was "natural causes," the only way it makes sense to me is: Betsy had a medical event. Then Gene fell and couldn't get up.

Like I said in another post,
Their homes are so big, that they probably didn’t need them to be cleaned weekly. Just pick up after yourself, dishes; etc.

There’s also no evidence supporting that Gene didn’t help around the house as well.

 

[friendlysleuther]

If Betsy’s medical event happened first and then Gene either fell while trying to get to her or in a fall unrelated to Betsy and was unable to get up - he may not have been able to access the phone from where he lay on the ground.

MOO, I think the deaths were tragically innocuous and unrelated to each other but one ( Betsy) was the cause of the others (Gene).

No evidence of a fall other than his glasses being on the ground

 

[Cherwell]

But do you mean he fell over immediately at the exact same moment she had a medical event? Otherwise why wouldn't he dial 911?
This would be horrible luck. Not impossible of course. Just horrible luck.

No, of course not. He may not even have known she had collapsed. It could have been at any time.
There may not have been a phone within reach. If he was conscious he could have been calling out to her.

He might have suffered a cardiac arrest, but there are lots of other reasons why he may have just fallen. Tripped over something, knocked over by one of the dogs, spilt something on the floor and slipped up on it, dizzy spell or just loss of balance.

 

[Sunshynn]

No evidence of a fall other than his glasses being on the ground

I addressed this earlier but no evidence of a fall meaning a fall that caused death - like a head wound or something is how I take that.

A fall can be the contributing cause to death - a stroke, hypothermia, heart attack, etc.

Obviously both did ‘fall’ because they were sprawled on the ground.