Gene Hackman Death: Police Remove Blood Pressure Drugs & More From House Where Bodies Were Found

Medication found at Gene Hackman‘s Santa Fe home may provide more information on how the Oscar winner and wife Betsy Arakawa died.

With conflict missives emerging over what led to the deaths of the couple, the state of the on-going police probe will be revealed later Friday in a press conference, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office said today.

Ahead of the 3 p.m. MT presser, the  Sheriff Adam Mendoza-led department have provided details on what a search warrant of the 95-year-old Hackman and the 63-year-old classical pianist’s home produced.

Sought about 8 hours after the couple and one of their dogs were discovered dead and mummified in separate rooms of their Santa Fe residence at 1:45 p.m. MT on February 26, the search warrant affidavit from t Det. Roy Arndt was immediately granted by Judge John Rysanek. The Magistrate Court judge ordered at the time: “You are further directed to prepare a written inventory of any person of property seized. You are further directed to file the return and written inventory with the Court promptly after its execution”.

Now, from paperwork filed this morning, we know what the cops retrieved.

It had previously been stated in the February 26 affidavit that as well as the bodies in the Hackman residence, there was “another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak.”

It is unclear right now if the Diltiazem, the Tylenol or the Thyroid medication are the scattered pills mentioned in the affidavit. Used for blood pressure issues, Diltiazem can cause dizziness or make someone sleepy if taken in excess. Remarks made by Sheriff Mendoza on Today Friday morning, after his office said there would be no more interviews, and others indicate Hackman and Arakawa had passed away at least several days before they were discovered by maintenance workers on their property on Wednesday.

While there is much we still do not know about the deaths, we do know that over 20 years ago, Hackman had an angioplasty procedure to help open blocked coronary arteries and restore blood flow to his heart. In the decade leading up to his last on-screen performance in 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport, the two-time Academy Award winner was very open about trying to live a healthier and less stressful life.

It should be noted, that after a solid start the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office’s investigation into the Hackmans’ deaths is beginning to resemble the chaos that occurred in the department’s probe of death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.

Hutchins was killed by a real bullet from Alec Baldwin‘s gun on the New Mexico set of the indie Western. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers were critical of the what the Sheriff’s office handled the high-profile case. That stance took life just a few days into Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial last summer when the whole thing was tossed out due to evidence suppression by the prosectors and police.