Gene Hackman and his wife test negative for carbon monoxide after mysteriously found dead

Actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, were both negative tested for carbon monoxide, revealed on Friday, in the middle of an investigation after being mysteriously found dead alongside one of their dogs at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Bureau, Adan Mendoza, said he thought that carbon monoxide was excluded as a possible death.

Hackman was died on February 17 – nine days before he and his wife were discovered – Mendoza also said on Friday, noting that it was the date of the last “event” recorded on his cardiac stimulator. It is believed that it was Hackman’s “last day of life”, said sheriff, noting that it is not yet clear when Arakawa died.

A cause and a mode of death remain pending, he said. Investigators are still expecting complete autopsy results and toxicology reports, he said.

The couple was found on Wednesday during a well-being check without obvious sign of the way they died, according to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Bureau.

However, their death was “sufficiently suspicious of nature to require a search and an in -depth investigation” due to all the “circumstances surrounding” the scene, according to the affidavit of the search mandate.

There was no external trauma to one or the other, which led the managers to carry out carbon monoxide and toxicology tests, said the sheriff’s office.

Mendoza said it could be at least three months before having the results of the final autopsy.

He said that the pathologist of the office of the New Mexico of the medical investigator had accelerated certain tests and informed it Friday earlier that the couple had tested negative for carbon monoxide.

“She shared this information with me because she thought she was relevant to the case and important to the public,” said Mendoza.

In a search Thursday of the couple’s house, investigators recovered two mobile phones, thyroid drugs, blood pressure drugs, Tylenol, a monthly planner and monthly health records in 2025, according to judicial files.

Hackman was discovered on the ground in the mud room, according to the search mandate. He appeared that he suddenly fell, and his wife “showed obvious death signs,” said the document.

Arakawa was found lying on the floor on the floor in a bathroom, with a radiator near his body, according to the search mandate, and his body showed signs of decomposition due to the mummification of the hands and feet.

On the counter near Arakawa was an open prescription bottle, with dispersed pills, depending on the search warrant.

A German shepherd was found dead about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa, according to the document. This dog was in a box or a kennel, according to Mendoza. Two other dogs belonging to the couple survived, although the officials said that the two had access to a dog door.

The Santa Fe City fire service found no sign of a possible leak of carbon monoxide or poisoning, depending on the document. The tests found no carbon monoxide in the house, according to the chief of the firefighters Brian Moya.

New Mexico Gas Company also replied: “For the moment, there is no sign or proof indicating that there were problems associated with pipes in and around the residence,” said the document.

Two maintenance workers said they hadn’t heard of Hackman and Arakawa for about two weeks, the document said.

A maintenance worker who initially responded to the house found the front door open, but there was no sign of forced entrance or that everything had been stolen, said the document.

There was no indication of a crime and “there could be a multitude of reasons for which the door was open,” the sheriff told journalists on Thursday.

There was “no obvious sign or indication of unfair game”, but the authorities “have not yet excluded this,” said sheriff.

Investigators “keep everything on the table,” he added.

Kevin Shalvey, Erica Morris and Emily Shapiro from ABC News contributed to this report.