Gene Hackman and wife’s deaths deemed ‘suspicious,’ no signs of gas leak

Gene Hackman‘s mysterious death is being investigated.

The French Connection star was found dead in his Santa Fe, N.M., home with his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, and their dog on Wednesday. Though the Santa Fe Police confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that they did not suspect foul play, authorities later said they have not ruled out foul play in a press conference Thursday, reports local outlet KOB4.

Hackman’s daughter, Elizabeth Jean Hackman, told TMZ that her family suspected carbon monoxide poisoning had caused their deaths. However, an affidavit for a search warrant from a Santa Fe detective, which EW has reviewed, stated that the circumstances of Hackman’s and Arakawa’s deaths were “suspicious,” with “no obvious signs of a gas leak” in their home.

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“Affiant believes that the circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” the affidavit reads.

The document noted that investigators detected no signs of obvious blunt force trauma or forced entry into the house, and that the door to the home was already ajar when they arrived.

The affidavit stated that Arakawa was found on the bathroom floor next to scattered prescription pills and a space heater that the responding officer thought could have fallen if Arakawa “abruptly fell to the ground.” Arakawa’s body was already decomposing upon discovery and showed “mummification in both hands and feet.”

The officers found the couple’s German shepherd dead 10 to 15 feet away in the bathroom closet. Two other dogs were discovered alive on the property.

The officers then found Hackman in the home’s mud room, where he appeared to have “suddenly fallen,” with a pair of sunglasses and a walking cane nearby. They found Hackman and Arakawa in a similar state, and nothing else on the property appeared to be “out of place.”

Hackman’s legendary career included two Oscar wins, for William Friedkin’s The French Connection and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. The actor, who died at the age of 95, also starred in the seminal films The Conversation, The Poseidon Adventure, Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning, and The Royal Tenenbaums, and had memorable supporting roles in movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Superman: The Movie, No Way Out, Get Shorty, The Birdcage, and Crimson Tide. He retired from screen acting after 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport.