The investigation into the deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa has uncovered new details and there is a decent possibility the deaths could be a result of a devastating accident. During an appearance on Fox Report, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden explained that Hackman’s pacemaker, which the sheriff noted last recorded activity on Feb. 17, could provide a crucial clue.
According to an affidavit for a search warrant obtained by NBC News on Feb. 27, Arakawa, 65, was found on the bathroom floor near a space heater and an open bottle of prescription medication, with pills scattered across the countertop. The medications retrieved from the home included an unidentified thyroid medication, the pain reliever Tylenol, and the blood pressure drug Diltiazem, per the report as reported by E!News.
Yesterday it was discovered, Gene Hackman’s pacemaker was last active on Feb. 17, indicating the Oscar-winning actor may have been deceased for nine days before he and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found in their New Mexico home, the Santa Fe County Sheriff stated Friday afternoon.
An initial interrogation was conducted of Mr Hackman’s pacemaker. This revealed that his last event was recorded on February 17, 2025, I was advised that a more thorough investigation will be completed,” said Mendoza. “I think that is a very good assumption that that was his last day of life,” Sheriff Adan Mendoza said according to Independent.
“That recorded event likely indicates a cardiac arrest triggered by an irregular pulse rate,” he explained. “The pacemaker monitors the pulse, and when it drops too low, it activates. All of that information is documented in the records Baden told Fox Report.
So the autopsy showed he didn’t have any injury,” Baden added. “There was no carbon monoxide. And he had — the most common cause of death in this country — severe heart disease, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure perhaps, from what’s been released. So that would cause him, having cardiac arrest in the mudroom, to collapse right there.”
A search warrant affidavit from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, obtained by Fox News Digital, revealed that investigators discovered Hackman’s body on the floor of a mudroom, with a walking cane and sunglasses nearby. The documents suggest detectives believed the actor may have suffered a “sudden fall.”
Dr. Michael Baden offered his theory that Arakawa’s death might have followed Hackman’s, possibly occurring as she attempted to assist him after his pacemaker ceased functioning.
Baden theorized that in a state of distress, Arakawa may have hurried to the bathroom to retrieve Hackman’s blood pressure medication. In the process, she could have collapsed, scattering the pills and knocking over the space heater as she fell.
“She may have struck her head on the way down and had some internal injury to the brain that doesn’t show up on the outside or bleeding in the inside of the brain,” Baden said. “Or that she may also, at 65, had severe heart disease and excitement can cause a trigger to the cardiac rhythm causing death under those circumstances. I think the first, that striking her head would be more common.”
The affidavit revealed that the deceased dog, a German Shepherd, was discovered in a bathroom closet, approximately 10-15 feet from Arakawa’s body. Meanwhile, two other dogs were found alive on the property. Detectives noted that one of the surviving dogs was initially seen near Arakawa inside the bathroom, while the other was spotted outside the residence. “The dog was constrained in his cage or kennel and would have died from just dehydration and lack of water during the nine-day period that he couldn’t get out of the kennel,” Baden said.
“The circumstances and who he was — he was beloved by so many — are what make it so unusual,” Baden said. “Because heart disease and collapsing and dying with a pacemaker is common in the United States.”
