Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya says he can’t definitively rule out carbon monoxide poisoning or a gas leak as the cause of death for actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.
“At the time of the incident, we did not determine anything that was in the house with our meters that was concerning to our guys doing the searches,” Moya said in an interview with “The Today Show"on Friday.
However, because the couple’s bodies had been in the home for days or “even up to a couple weeks,” he said, it was still unclear whether or not aleak may have been a contributing factor.
When asked whether there could have been a leak that dissipated in the time after the pair’s deaths but before their bodies were found, he said, “it possibly could. That was a home with natural gas in it, so it could have [dissipated]. There’s a lot of unanswered [questions] there.”
Gene Hackman & wife Betsy Arakawa during The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards - Arrivals at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
There were no apparent signs of trauma on either Hackman or Arakawa, and law enforcement reiterated on Thursday that they’d found no evidence of foul play.
Still, the circumstances surrounding the couple’s deaths are considered “unusual,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Thursday afternoon.
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Hackman’s and Arakawa’s bodies were transported to the Office of the Medical Investigator in Santa Fe for autopsies, though no official cause of death has been determined thus far. Full carbon monoxide and toxicology tests have been ordered, but results could take weeks to come in.
Hackman, a legendary actor, was known for his roles inThe French Connection,SupermanandThe Royal Tenenbaums. He hadthree childrenfrom his first marriage to Faye Maltese: Christopher Allen Hackman, 63, Elizabeth Jean Hackman, 61, and Leslie Ann Hackman, 57. A five-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner, he retired from acting after 2004’sWelcome to Mooseport.
Arakawa, born in Hawaii in the early ’60s, kept a low public profile. She was a classical pianist and entrepreneur, co-owning a Santa Fe-based home furnishings store for many years, perThe New York Times. She and Hackman married in 1991.
source: people.com