While New Mexico authorities are investigating the death of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, their adopted town of Santa Fe is in contact with the mystery of what happened to the couple.
Hackman, a Hollywood legend with two Academy Awards was selected by a 60-year career, and Arakawa, a classical pianist, lived in the area for decades and embraced the nearby community capital of the city of New Mexico.
Their deaths at the age of 95 and 65 sent shockwaves to the area, popular with the lively art scene, Adobe buildings and bright blue skies.
“Everything is really sad – we hold our community here,” said Nedret Gürler, a resident of Santa Fe for more than three decades, said inside the rag shop that he helps work in the city town. “There is so much sadness in our world and [this] It was as if another bright light was blurred. “
The events around the death of the couple are restless people, he said. “Something’s wrong about it. We all want answers. “
Those answers can take a while to appear.
The couple was found on Wednesday afternoon after a maintenance worker, concerned when no one answered the door, contacted security in the neighborhood, who saw their bodies through a window and called the police. One of their three dogs was also found dead. They had died “quite long” before they were found, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff, Adam Mendoza.
They both appeared to have suddenly fell to the floor in various parts of the house, officials said. Hackman was found near a entryway with a tube nearby, while Arakawa was found in a bathroom with an open bottle of prescription and pills scattered on a nearby countertop. The deceased dog was found in a bathroom wardrobe. Two other dogs were found alive, Mendoza said, and came indoors and out of the house with a pet door. There are no signs of foul play.
“There is no indication of a struggle,” Mendoza said. “There is no indication of anything that is missing from home or disturbed … You know, that would be a hint that there was a crime that had happened.”
Sheriff said Friday afternoon that Hackman and Arakawa tried the negative for carbon monoxide and had no indications of trauma to their bodies. The last recorded activity at Hackman’s pacemaker was on February 17 – Mendoza said it was a “good idea” that was his last day of life.
Investigators are trying to get a timeline together in the death of the couple. But officials are waiting for autopsy and toxicology results, which can take three months or longer, Mendoza said.
Meanwhile, inside coffee shops and art stores in Santa Fe, people asked: What do you think happened?
“Everyone was shocked. None of this matches,” said Barbara Simpson, a long -standing resident of Santa Fe owned an antique store in the city. “Many still need to get out of the investigation.”
Simpson remembers seeing Hackman in the area for many years – he once owned a business near his store. In Santa Fe, he can make his life without being disturbed and accepted as part of the community, Simpson said.
“People in Santa Fe liked them. They were really involved,” he said.
The Senate of the State of New Mexico held a moment of silence in the State Capitol in the historic city after the news of their death, along with a lawmaker who said: “We are fortunate to call him New Mexican.”
As residents of Santa Fe, the couple opened up to local businesses such as an interior design store and invested in restaurants -Hackman even painted the mural that decorated at a diner. The actor has served on the Board of the Shuts with the Georgia O’keeffe Museum for almost a decade. In a statement, the museum said he played “an important role in shaping the first years of the museum” and contributed to the “significant” ways, including the narration of a movie for the museum.
Santa Fe, the city’s oldest capital in the US, has long drew artists as well as famous writers and celebrities in Hollywood from Robert Redford to Shirley Maclaine. Simpson, who had previously worked in the film industry, said many people have met in the area that way and found that they enjoyed the small scene of the town and cultural scenes.
Hackman once said he had been taken “with chaos and unmistakable spirit of this place”.
This is the light that takes people here, Gürler, a photographer, realizing, and then they find a deep companion and welcome community. Hackman and Arakawa were riding, he said.
“He’s the kind man. He smiles at everyone,” he said. “Everything I talked to from yesterday was really sad.”
For many years, people will see the couple walking around the town, visiting the lizard or eating at local restaurants. Some residents have begun to share online stories about their relationships in recent years. Someone described how he helped Hackman as a library worker, and how the actor invited him to join him and Arakawa for dinner. Now the community is waiting to find out what happened.
“Something is missing. Hope let’s close, but I hope [their] Family closing even when we are not, ”Gürler said.
