New Mexico authorities have officially deemed actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s death as “suspicious.

A search warrant written by Det. Roy Arndt states,  “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 also states a dead German Shepherd was found inside a bathroom closet.

Per Variety:

Investigators believe the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are “suspicious,” according to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday morning.

Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday afternoon. The cause of their deaths has not been determined, though the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said early Thursday that foul play is “not currently suspected.”

ADVERTISEMENT

In an application for a search warrant, Det. Roy Arndt told a judge the circumstances are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”

The bodies were found by two maintenance workers. Arakawa was lying on the bathroom floor. A prescription pill bottle was open on the countertop, with pills scattered nearby. Hackman was discovered in the mud room, adjacent to the kitchen, with his sunglasses at his side.

It appeared to the detective that both had fallen to the ground. A dead dog was also found in the bathroom closet, near Arakawa’s body. Two healthy dogs were also found on the property, one near Arakawa and the other running loose outdoors. The front door of the house was open, though there was no sign of forcible entry.

The fire department and the gas company were called out to check for a natural gas leak, which could cause carbon monoxide poisoning. They did not detect anything, and there were “no obvious signs of a gas leak,” Arndt wrote.

“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 detective wrote in summarizing the situation.

Per Penn Live:

Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in different rooms of their Santa Fe home, but two dogs on the property were alive, according to investigators.

On Wednesday, Hackman, 95, was found dead in a mudroom, and his 63-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa.

Denise Avila, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said there was no indication that any of them had been shot or had other types of wounds.

They had been dead for some time, the sheriff’s office said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The utility tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn’t find any signs of problems. A detective noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide may not show signs of poisoning, but also noted there were no obvious signs of a gas leak.

The Associated Press left email and phone messages Thursday for sheriff’s officials seeking more details. A spokesperson for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, which runs the state’s medical examiner operations, declined to comment on whether the cause and manner of deaths had been determined.

A worker reported that the home’s front door was open when he arrived for routine maintenance and that he called police after finding the bodies. Two workers told police that they rarely saw the homeowners and that their last contact with them had been about two weeks earlier.

A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Two healthy dogs were found on the property.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.