Gene Hackman had become “reclusive” with his health “slipping” in his final months, his friends and neighbors said over the weekend.
The legendary actor—who was found dead in his New Mexico mansion on Wednesday along with his wife and a German Shepherd—had stopped riding his bike and was “home-bound,” his pals Daniel and Barbara Lenihan told PEOPLE.
Other friends confirmed to Fox News that the 95-year-old was “slowing down” since 2020 as his age finally began to catch up with him.
ADVERTISEMENT
“After COVID, he was more reclusive, protecting his immune system and everything else,” neighbor Stuart Ashman told the network.
Word of Hackman’s deteriorating health has not quelled the mystery surrounding his passing, however, as an official cause of death has yet to be determined for him or his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa.
Arakawa was in “perfect health” and “so fit,” her pals told PEOPLE, adding that she did everything she could to keep Hackman healthy. That included keeping him on a strict diet in addition to having him complete puzzles and yoga sessions “daily.”
Arakawa, a concert pianist who married Hackman in 1991, was found lying dead in a separate room of their home, police said, with pills scattered around her body. PEOPLE reported that the mystery pills were a mixture of thyroid medication, Tylenol, and the high-blood pressure medication Diltiazem.
Hackman’s two daughters said last week their dad was in great health for his age. He could still walk on his own as of last spring, when he was photographed getting around town with the help of a cane.
It is not clear when Arakawa or Hackman died, as cops revealed their extremities had undergone mummification by the time a neighbor called in a welfare check that led police to make their grim discovery.
The local sheriff, Adan Mendoza, estimated Friday that Hackman could have been dead for as many as nine days before he was discovered. He said investigators reached that conclusion in part because his pacemaker was last operational on Feb. 17.
Mendoza said it would be “very hard” to determine which spouse died first.
“I really am puzzled by the whole thing,” Ashman told Fox News. “You know, there’s a lot of different reports coming out. It’s kind of a tragic mystery in a way. And I can’t really speculate on what it could have been. Certainly nothing dark there. I think it gets compounded by the fact that it was the two of them and the dog. But I don’t know beyond that.”
The couple had three German Shepherds. One of their canines was found dead in a kennel when police arrived last week, while the other two were moving freely around the home and its yard, as at least one door was ajar. The surviving dogs have been put in the care of Santa Fe authorities.
Despite theories from Hackman’s loved ones that carbon monoxide poisoning killed the couple and their pup, police said the home tested negative for the compound and that it had been ruled out as a potential cause of death.
Foul play is still not expected, Mendoza said. He estimates that definitive answers may emerge in the coming weeks as autopsy and toxicology results become available.
