[Image: Leslie Hackman]
The discovery was as grim as it was baffling. Last week, a maintenance worker stumbled upon a haunting scene inside the Santa Fe, New Mexico, home of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65. The couple was found dead, their bodies in an advanced state of decomposition. But they weren’t alone.
Arakawa’s body was found with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the bathroom countertop, while Hackman’s remains were found in the home’s entryway.
Just a few feet from Arakawa’s body lay another casualty—a deceased dog, described in a police affidavit as “a brown in color German-Shepard [sic] canine.”
Later, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza clarified to ABC News that the dog had been found inside a crate or kennel. Meanwhile, two other dogs were discovered on the property—alive and seemingly unharmed.
Yet, a new report, per USA Today, paints a different picture of the scene, adding another layer of confusion to an already distressing case.
Joey Padilla, the owner of the Santa Fe Tails dog day care, claimed he personally transported Hackman’s two surviving dogs – Bear, a German shepherd, and Nikita, a seven-year-old Akita-shepherd mix – to his facility.
However, the deceased dog was not a German shepherd at all, he said. It was Zinna, a 12-year-old Australian Kelpie mix with a past as an agility competitor in the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. According to Padilla, Zinna was found inside her crate, the door shut.
Padilla – who had trained the couple’s dogs and cared for them over the past decade – spoke of the deep bond between Arakawa and her animals. “It’s hard to explain how much these dogs meant to them,” he told Fox News, describing how Arakawa never went anywhere without them.
“Zinna was always attached to Betsy at the hip and it was a beautiful relationship,” Padilla said. “Zinna went from being a returned shelter dog to this incredible companion under Betsy’s hand.”
As speculation swirled around the deceased dog, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila provided a diplomatic yet telling response: “Our deputies do not deal with canines on a daily basis.” A statement that left more questions than answers.
Padilla, for his part, declined to engage further in the debate, issuing an email statement that, while heartfelt, did little to clarify the confusion. “Betsy and Gene were incredible dog parents,” he wrote, insisting that Arakawa would never have put her pets in harm’s way.
For now, the mystery lingers, with Hackman’s and Arakawa’s deaths overshadowed by the oddly compelling saga of their pets. The two surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita, remain in Padilla’s care, “surrounded by people they know and love,” as he put it. As for Zinna—her final days remain a footnote in the tragic tale.
Meanwhile, Padilla awaits word from Arakawa’s lawyer regarding the fate of the surviving dogs. And while the world may be left with lingering questions, he has a simple request: “I ask that no one disturb the new peace they are building after such a traumatic event.”
In the investigations, the two bodies were both tested negative for carbon monoxide, the colourless and odourless gas that fuels home appliances and can be fatal in poorly ventilated homes. No gas leaks were discovered in or around the home either.
Authorities retrieved personal items from the home, The Independent notes, including a monthly planner and two cellphones that will be analysed. Medical investigators are still working to clarify the cause of deaths, but the results of toxicology reports aren’t expected for weeks.
In the end, the only certainty in this tangled web is loss – and an unsettling sense that some questions may never be fully answered.
[Source: Huffpost]
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