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

[Quill]

Just politely ask for a source, or report and scroll on.

It's a direct quote from the Sheriff, which is a good enough source for me.

"From what I understand, there was a gentleman that was doing some pest control work that had gone to the Hackman residence, and he noticed that they weren’t home which was odd, I guess in as far he was concerned. He made contact with the security officer that was there, either patrolling or in the subdivision, and then it was the security officer that went to the house and had discovered the individuals in the home,” Mendoza said.

https://fox4kc.com/news/national/gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-santa-fe-sheriff-says-discovery-is-concerning/

MOO

Thank you for this. I knew I had heard that in the presser and many others did as well. Now, do we think this could possibly be the "caretaker" mentioned so often upthread? It's totally possible that he was helping them with a critter problem as a maintenance worker for the gated community. This adds a new wrinkle in my opinion. I am just spinning thinking about what kind of bait might be used in the case of rats or moles etc (total supposition since we don't have any facts to support what kind of pest FWIW). The presence of a doggy door meaning that the dogs come and go as they please and can bring in anything as well. Dogs have been known to drag any number of gross things in through a doggy door. Some types of rat poison caught a severe dehydration (drying up) from the inside out. I know this is a horrible thought and I haven't connected the dots on how you go from simple exposure to human ingestion. Maybe it's not feasible. But I did want to throw it out there to the "think tank".

 

[ekc]

Someone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest is usually found on the floor.

in a chair? in bed? in the car? and on...just a thought

 

[ClearAhead]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>

Carbon monoxide poisoning ruled out in death of Gene Hackman and wife, police say

Investigators say ‘good assumption’ actor died on 17 February while autopsies reveal no external trauma

www.theguardian.com

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.

 

[Quill]

thanks for explaining this. ive only had 2 dogs crate trained and they were in 2 crates. they were also the same age and temperament so i recognize there are many other possibilities.
my next question here is why would the other 2 dogs be in and out of the house, but not try to help the 3rd dog in the crate if it were suffering which i assume would make it vocal

I'm sure the two dogs were soooo stressed. It breaks my heart thinking about it! I think they probably did try as long as the crated dog was still alive. If it was behind a latched or closed door, there was little they could do and they may have tried. So sad.

 

[PinkButtercup]

'Even if they died of a natural disease, people don't flop on the floor like that, the way their bodies were found,' he said. 'They usually lie down on the bed and call a doctor.'

What a ridiculous sweeping generalisation. Some conditions do cause people to drop dead. And has he never heard of a frail person in their 90s falling?
I think this "expert" is looking at it all the wrong way round.

Is this guy really a doctor?
My mother, aged 56, suffered a sudden brain haemorrhage whilst hanging out laundry. She had felt fine, and had even been to work that morning. If no-one had been around, she would've died right there on the spot.

 

[SortaSleuthy]

Regarding the slippers: many elderly people wear slippers all day. Sometimes due to swelling in their feet but often just because it is easier for them to put on slippers than shoes.

As I look down at my slippered feet, I think about turning 86 in May.

 

[CityKid]

'Even if they died of a natural disease, people don't flop on the floor like that, the way their bodies were found,' he said. 'They usually lie down on the bed and call a doctor.'

What a ridiculous sweeping generalisation. Some conditions do cause people to drop dead. And has he never heard of a frail person in their 90s falling?
I think this "expert" is looking at it all the wrong way round.

I agree. Absolutely ridiculous. It's not uncommon for people to have fallen (and they can't get up, like in the old commercials) during a sudden health event, and eventually succumbed.

 

[friendlysleuther]

Just politely ask for a source, or report and scroll on.

It's a direct quote from the Sheriff, which is a good enough source for me.

"From what I understand, there was a gentleman that was doing some pest control work that had gone to the Hackman residence, and he noticed that they weren’t home which was odd, I guess in as far he was concerned. He made contact with the security officer that was there, either patrolling or in the subdivision, and then it was the security officer that went to the house and had discovered the individuals in the home,” Mendoza said.

https://fox4kc.com/news/national/gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-santa-fe-sheriff-says-discovery-is-concerning/

MOO

All of the sources I have found after searching, "Pest Control" & Gene Hackman, come up with 0 results for the word pest on the actual site whenever you click on it.

One site, linked this CNN article as its source-- However, this link also does not contain the word "pest" anywhere.

Additionally, the WayBackMachine/ Internet Archive from Feb 28th at 21:00 also does not show the word pest.

 

[Cherwell]

Thank you for this. I knew I had heard that in the presser and many others did as well. Now, do we think this could possibly be the "caretaker" mentioned so often upthread? It's totally possible that he was helping them with a critter problem as a maintenance worker for the gated community. This adds a new wrinkle in my opinion. I am just spinning thinking about what kind of bait might be used in the case of rats or moles etc (total supposition since we don't have any facts to support what kind of pest FWIW). The presence of a doggy door meaning that the dogs come and go as they please and can bring in anything as well. Dogs have been known to drag any number of gross things in through a doggy door. Some types of rat poison caught a severe dehydration (drying up) from the inside out. I know this is a horrible thought and I haven't connected the dots on how you go from simple exposure to human ingestion. Maybe it's not feasible. But I did want to throw it out there to the "think tank".

Yes, I think that basic vermin control could be one of the tasks of the maintenance crew.

As for the safety aspect. We have used bait boxes with sachets of rat poison inside and we have dogs roaming free in the garden. It's fine as long as you make sure to place the bait boxes out of reach of the dogs. It's also advisable to weight the box down so it can't easily be dragged from its position, and to secure the sachet inside so the rat can't drag it out. With sensible precautions there should be no risk of the poison getting into the house, or the dogs ingesting it.

 

[friendlysleuther]

Just politely ask for a source, or report and scroll on.

https://fox4kc.com/news/national/gene-hackman-wife-found-dead-santa-fe-sheriff-says-discovery-is-concerning/

This site states,
"A neighborhood security officer discovered Hackman’s and Arakawa’s dead bodies after being called to do a welfare check Wednesday afternoon at their home in Santa Fe, N.M., the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday in a news release posted on Facebook."
A man doing pest control work went to Hackman’s home early Wednesday afternoon and noticed they weren’t home, which he found odd, Mendoza said."

I made a transcript of the press conference they're citing, I will attach it here.

 

[iamshadow21]

All of the sources I have found after searching, "Pest Control" & Gene Hackman, come up with 0 results for the word pest on the actual site whenever you click on it.

One site, linked this CNN article as its source-- However, this link also does not contain the word "pest" anywhere.

Additionally, the WayBackMachine/ Internet Archive from Feb 28th at 21:00 also does not show the word pest.

The article I linked to, the Fox4kc one, which I quoted, has the quote right there in the article. All you have to do is read the article. It is there. It is a direct quote from the Sheriff.

 

[Cherwell]

All of the sources I have found after searching, "Pest Control" & Gene Hackman, come up with 0 results for the word pest on the actual site whenever you click on it.

One site, linked this CNN article as its source-- However, this link also does not contain the word "pest" anywhere.

Additionally, the WayBackMachine/ Internet Archive from Feb 28th at 21:00 also does not show the word pest.

How many more examples do you need?

 

[IceIce9]

All of the sources I have found after searching, "Pest Control" & Gene Hackman, come up with 0 results for the word pest on the actual site whenever you click on it.

One site, linked this CNN article as its source-- However, this link also does not contain the word "pest" anywhere.

Additionally, the WayBackMachine/ Internet Archive from Feb 28th at 21:00 also does not show the word pest.

I just got dozens of hits when I searched on Google. This is the first

Sheriff Mendoza also revealed a few details surrounding the discovery of the bodies.

“From what I understand, there was a gentleman that was doing some pest control work that had gone to the Hackman residence, and he noticed that they weren’t home which was odd, I guess in as far he was concerned. He made contact with the security officer that was there, either patrolling or in the subdivision, and then it was the security officer that went to the house and had discovered the individuals in the home,” Mendoza said.

 

[IceIce9]

There are dozens of examples in MSM that are allowable by WS rules.

 

[osu]

All of the sources I have found after searching, "Pest Control" & Gene Hackman, come up with 0 results for the word pest on the actual site whenever you click on it.

One site, linked this CNN article as its source-- However, this link also does not contain the word "pest" anywhere.

Additionally, the WayBackMachine/ Internet Archive from Feb 28th at 21:00 also does not show the word pest.

I posted the following article to your post earlier. BBM.

From the presser:

Sheriff Mendoza also revealed a few details surrounding the discovery of the bodies.

“From what I understand, there was a gentleman that was doing some pest control work that had gone to the Hackman residence, and he noticed that they weren’t home which was odd, I guess in as far he was concerned. He made contact with the security officer that was there, either patrolling or in the subdivision, and then it was the security officer that went to the house and had discovered the individuals in the home,” Mendoza said.

Gene Hackman, wife tested negative for carbon monoxide, sheriff says

 

[Zapoleon]

<modsnip - quoted post and response removed>
Starts at relevant porion.

 

[lowerj]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>
That’s why I was thinking carbon monoxide. What would kill 2 people and one dog without it being murder? If you are going to commit suicide you would hopefully give the dog to a family member. You don’t want to force them to eat you or anything. I know that’s a bad visual. You would want your dog safe. Unless you’re Hitler in a bunker then your dog might not be safe. I’m thinking something killed everyone.

I believe that there were 2 other dogs in the house still alive.

 

[NuttMegg]

A forensic expert commented on the investigation and based on his experience what may have happened:

As new details begin to unravel, Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police Department, delivered his new theory to DailyMail.com.

'This is a sad situation all around,' he said.

Given the new findings, Dr. Baden believes that the retired star may have suffered from a sudden cardiac arrhythmia episode - a malfunction of the heart's electrical system that occurs when the signals telling the heart to beat don't work properly.

This could have led to Gene's fall, which would align with how his body was discovered - in the mudroom off the kitchen, with his sunglasses and cane sprawled out on the floor.
'If the pacemaker stops functioning properly, it is easier for a sudden cardiac arrhythmia to happen,' Dr. Baden told DailyMail.com.

'It sounds like he died from a fatal arrhythmia, and the autopsy will determine if heart disease was a factor.'

Given that carbon monoxide has been ruled out, Dr. Baden believes that Betsy most likely would have panicked upon discovering her husband on the floor and hurriedly ran to the bathroom to grab his medication.

Betsy's body was discovered decomposed on that bathroom floor, with a prescription bottle of pills open and its contents strewn across the counter.

Police reported finding the over-the-counter pain reliever Tylenol, an unspecified thyroid medication and diltiazem - commonly used to treat high blood pressure and certain heart conditions.

It is not clear yet whether Betsy had taken the medicines found in the bathroom or if Gene had - or whose name was printed on the canister.

Dr. Baden had previously suggested a good question to ask officers was whether they had opened any doors or windows for a long period of time during their investigation.

'What happens when police come into a decomposing cause, they get upset of the bad odor and they are concerned they will catch something because it is distasteful, the smell,' he told DailyMail.com.

'It's a lousy odor and the first thing they sometimes do is open the windows to let the bad odor out. That could affect the net negative reading at the scene.'

Initially, Dr. Baden believed that the carbon monoxide theory was the only one that made sense.

'Even if they died of a natural disease, people don't flop on the floor like that, the way their bodies were found,' he said. 'They usually lie down on the bed and call a doctor.'

Forensic expert: Gene Hackman may have suffered a heart malfunction

I'd think he would have had a different heart medicine for sudden arrythmia than diltiazem which, jmo, would be for daily maintenance, not necessarily for emergency use.
I know my BB is coated and purposely meant for slow continuous treatment to prevent arrythmias.

Signed "Not a cardiologist"

Yes I know diltiazem is not a BB

 

[slowpoke]

I think it must be terribly sad to grow old without children or parents around.
Look at Nicholson or Eastwood or Beatty or Douglas: they have or had children , human warmth around them.

Mr. Hackman had been open about his regret with his lack of relationship with his children when they were growing up, as he focused on his career over family.

(In a candid admission to The Irish Independent back in 2000, Gene said: "I couldn't always be home with them when they were growing up and then, living in California, they've had my success always hanging over their heads." LINK)

Yet, who has ever lived completely without any kind of regrets, or even the same kind of regret with their kids? My hope is that he made peace with himself over it in his aging years. It sounds like he and Betsy made a wonderful life together in Santa Fe. I think he found a loving and devoted partner in Betsy.

JMO

 

[dotr]

Mar 1, 2025
The piñon- and juniper-scented Rocky Mountain foothills overlooking Santa Fe have helped the city earn a reputation as a refuge for famous actors and authors seeking to escape the spotlight.

Mar 1, 2025
'Preliminary autopsy results ruled out carbon monoxide in the deaths of Oscar-winner Gene Hackman and his wife, New Mexico authorities said Friday, as investigators continued to pore over evidence found around the couple's partially mummified bodies.It's still unclear how Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, died at their Santa Fe home, though authorities said they don't suspect foul play. The condition of the bodies found Wednesday, as well as new information revealed by authorities about Hackman’s pacemaker, indicated the deaths may have occurred at least several days earlier.'