A maintenance worker reported that the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work on Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies, investigators said. He and another worker said they rarely saw the home owners and that their last contact with them had been about two weeks earlier.
In a 911 call reportedly made by the maintenance worker who found Hackman and Arakawa and obtained by TMZ, a celebrity news outlet, the man can be heard sobbing as he directs authorities to the property.
“I have no idea,” the maintenance worker tells authorities when asked if the couple is awake or breathing.
“I’m not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked, I can’t go in, but I see them … she’s laying down.”
Asked if either Hackman or Arakawa were moving, the maintenance worker says: “No, dude, they’re not moving. Just send somebody out here really quick.”
Hackman appeared to have fallen, a deputy observed. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, grey sweatpants and slippers. A pair of sunglasses and a cane were nearby.
A dead German shepherd was found in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, police said. Two healthy dogs were found on the property – one inside and one outside.
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 Centre, which runs the state’s medical examiner operations, declined to comment on whether the cause and manner of deaths had been determined.
Actor known for his versatility
The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the best actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
“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. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss,” his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement on Thursday.
Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa at the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards in 2003.Credit: AP
Hackman routinely showed up on Hollywood list of greatest American actors of the 20th century. He could play virtually any kind of role, from comic book villain Lex Luthor in Superman to a coach finding redemption in the sentimental favourite Hoosiers.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.
Tributes quickly poured in from Hollywood.
“There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much,” actor-director Clint Eastwood, Hackman’s Unforgiven co-star, said in a statement.
Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s, the New York Times reported in 1989. They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade relocated to Santa Fe.
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Their Southwestern-style ranch on Old Sunset Trail sits on a hill in a gated community with views of the Rocky Mountains.
The sprawling four-bedroom home on 2.5 hectares was built in 1997 and had an estimated market value of a little over $US4 million, according to Santa Fe County property tax records.
The couple also owned a more modest home next door.
With AP and Reuters
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