Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa Case: Dog’s Likely Cause of Death Revealed

Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead Feb. 26, 2025

Gene Hackman and his wife of 33 years, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their Santa Fe, N.M., home on Feb. 26 by two maintenance workers who spied their bodies through a window from outside the house. According to authorities, they alerted the caretaker in the gated community where the couple lived and that person called 911.

“No, they are not moving,” the caller told 911, per an audio recording. “Please send someone out here quick.”

When Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they found Arakawa, 65, on the floor of a bathroom to the left of the frontdoor. She was clad in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, according to a Feb. 27 search warrant affidavit obtained by E! News, and there was an open prescription pill bottle and loose pills scattered on the countertop.

Hackman, 95, was on the floor in what deputies described as a mudroom near the kitchen, per the warrant. A walking cane and sunglasses near the body.

One of the couple’s three dogs—initially misidentified as their German shepherd Bear, it was actually their Australian Kelpie mix Zinna—was found dead in a closet of the bathroom, according to the warrant. Another healthy-looking dog was found near Arakawa’s body and the other, also seemingly healthy, was running around outside.

A search warrant was executed on the house at around 9:30 p.m. Feb. 26 and Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies were removed the following morning.