Gene Hackman’s pacemaker activity suggests he died several days before he was found

Officials say actor Gene Hackman, 95, probably died days before he and his wife’s bodies were found Wednesday at their home in Santa Fe, N.M.

Hackman’s pacemaker was last active on Feb. 17, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza said at a news conference on Friday.

The sheriff said it was “a very good assumption” Hackman died on that day, based on information from a pathologist.

A pacemaker is an implanted battery-powered medical device that helps regulate the heart’s rhythm.

The deaths of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, immediately prompted suspicion, authorities said. Initial reports found no signs of forced entry, foul play, a robbery, or a carbon monoxide or other gas leak.

Mendoza said on Friday the pathologist told him Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide exposure.

Earlier on Friday, Mendoza told NBC’s Today Show that initial reports had suggested the pair likely died “several days, possibly even up to a couple of weeks” before they were discovered. He said it was also unclear if the two passed at the same time.

Investigators were still trying to determine who last saw or spoke to the couple, but Mendoza said the couple was “very private,” which is part of the challenge in the investigation.

What we know so far

Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in separate rooms of their home by a maintenance worker on Wednesday afternoon. The worker told authorities that the front door of the house was open when he arrived, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Mendoza later clarified on Friday that the front door was closed but unlocked.

When Santa Fe patrol deputies came to the scene, the actor’s body was discovered in an area believed to be a mudroom while Arakawa’s body was located in a bathroom closest to the front of the residence, the affidavit stated. An prescription bottle that appeared to be open and pills were found scattered on a countertop near Arakawa’s body, the affidavit said.

Meanwhile, a German Shepherd was also found dead in a bathroom closet, the affidavit said. Both Hackman and Arakawa were wearing loungewear.

Two other dogs, both alive, were found around the property, one inside near Arakawa’s body and the other outside the house, according to the affidavit.

Prior to Wednesday, the last time the worker or his colleague had been in contact with the couple was about two weeks prior, the affidavit said. Both workers told officers they rarely saw the homeowners and primarily communicated with the wife through phone or text.

Hackman and Arakawa met in the mid-1980s at a gym in California, the New York Times reported in 1989. The two later married and settled in Santa Fe.

Hackman was a long-time actor best known for his roles in The French Connection, Unforgiven, Hoosiers and The Royal Tenenbaums. Arakawa was a classical pianist and a co-founder of a home furnishing business, according to the Associated Press. Hackman had one son and two daughters with his first wife, Faye Maltese.

“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us, he was always just Dad and Grandpa,” his two daughters Elizabeth and Leslie Hackman, and his granddaughter Annie, said in a statement to KTLA 5. “We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”