An emotional 911 call by a maintenance worker who discovered the bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa has been released.
The unnamed worker appears to cry and repeat “damn” as he says he can see Arakawa’s body “not moving” from outside a window of the couple’s New Mexico home.
He urged the 911 call handler to “send someone up here real quick” as he said the house the couple were in was locked.
Hackman, 95, Arakawa, 65, and one of their pet dogs were found dead on Wednesday after police carried out a welfare check. Two healthy dogs were also on the property.
The actor’s body was discovered in a mudroom while Arakawa was found in a bathroom next to a heater. They had been dead for some time, detectives from Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a search warrant.
There were scattered pills and an open prescription bottle on a countertop near Arakawa.
The couple’s deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”, the warrant said.
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There was no indication they had been shot and they had no other wounds, police said. The warrant added that the door to the property was found ajar and there were no signs of forced entry.
Preliminary findings from a medical investigation have found the couple suffered “no external trauma”.
Official results of post-mortem examinations and toxicology reports are pending, and the manner and cause of death have not yet been determined, according to the sheriff’s office.
Image: Santa Fe County deputies remain outside the house belonging to actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. Pic: AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales
Hackman’s daughter had earlier suggested the couple may have been killed by carbon monoxide – but the cause of death remains unclear.
The local utility company tested gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were found and did not find any sign of problems, the police warrant said.
Tributes poured in for Hackman, who won an Oscar for his lead role in The French Connection, a 1971 action movie by William Friedkin, and another for best supporting actor in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western, Unforgiven.
Image: Hackman won an Oscar for his role in The French Connection. Pic: 20th Century Fox/D’Antoni Productions/Schine-Moore Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
He was also known for playing Lex Luthor in the Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Roles in the Francis Ford Coppola mystery thriller The Conversation and in the historical drama Mississippi Burning, where he starred as an FBI agent alongside Willem Dafoe, helped cement his career as one of Hollywood’s greats.
Image: Gene Hackman and Christopher Reeve in Superman. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
Image: Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe in Mississippi Burning. Pic: Moviestore/Shutterstock
Among those paying tribute was the Prince of Wales, who said he was “so sad to hear the news”.
“Hackman was a true genius of film who brought each and every character to life with power, authenticity and star quality,” he said in a post on X.
The Shawshank Redemption actor Morgan Freeman said “bringing the French film Garde a Vue (Under Suspicion) to life with the incredibly gifted Gene Hackman” was “one of the personal highlights of my career”.
Image: Morgan Freeman and Hackman in Under Suspicion. Pic: Bob Greene/Lions Gate/Kobal/Shutterstock
The thriller, released in 2000, saw Hackman play wealthy tax lawyer Henry Hearst who is questioned by Freeman’s character, Captain Victor Beneze, about the murder of a young girl.
American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola hailed Hackman as a “great actor” who was “inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity”.
Image: Hackman in The Conversation. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
Coppola wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated 1974 mystery thriller The Conversation, which starred Hackman as a surveillance expert who has a crisis of conscience when he suspects the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Bill Murray, who starred with Hackman in the 2001 film The Tenenbaums, called him a “tough nut” and a “really good” actor.
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Bill Murray on Gene Hackman
Image: Hackman in 1997 film Absolute Power. Pic: Snap/Shutterstock
Singer Sting said the world had “lost a legend” while actor and director Clint Eastwood said Hackman would be “deeply missed”.
Dirty Harry actor Eastwood starred opposite Hackman in 1997 political action thriller Absolute Power, where he played master jewel thief Luther Whitney.
Hackman married Arakawa, a classical pianist, in 1991. He had three children, Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017.
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Image: Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Image: Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
Heaton Park, just north of Manchester City centre, is tonight hosting 80,000 fans who’ve come to see the Gallaghers’ homecoming.
“I would honestly say it’s a real cultural moment of the 21st century,” says Sam, who’s from Manchester and has come here with a group of friends – including one who has travelled from Australia for the gig.
Image: Oasis fans wear band T-shirts with the almost obligatory bucket hats. Pic: Reuters
This will be the fourth time Sam has seen Oasis play, although obviously not for many years, and he says he can’t wait for the moment the band comes on to the stage.
“The reaction from the fans, that’s going to be really special,” he says. “This band means so much to the North West.”
Like many people attending tonight’s concert, Sam is wearing a bucket hat.
Liam Gallagher’s iconic headgear has become a part of the band’s cultural legacy and they are certainly on display here, with street vendors popping up all around the park’s perimeter.
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Another fan, Dean, tells me he feels incredibly lucky to have got a ticket at all.
“I had seven devices out when the tickets were released and I didn’t get one,” he says. “And then about three days ago, a friend of mine messaged to say she couldn’t make it.
“So I made it. £120 with coach travel there and back – perfect.”
Image: Dom has flown from half a world away to be in Manchester tonight
Dom is another fan who has come from Australia for the gig.
“We’re frothing to be here, like so stoked,” he says, “The atmosphere is going to be electric.”
R&B singer Chris Brown has denied further charges following an alleged bottle attack in a London nightclub.
The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) to music producer Abraham Diaw, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Brown also denied one count of having an offensive weapon – a bottle – in a public place.
Image: Chris Brown arriving at Southwark Crown Court on Friday. Pic: PA
The Grammy-winning US musician last month pleaded not guilty to a more serious charge of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent to Mr Diaw.
The attack allegedly happened at the Tape venue, a private members’ club in Hanover Square, Mayfair, on 19 February 2023.
The plea hearing is part of preparations for his five to seven-day trial, which is due to take place from 26 October 2026.
Brown’s co-defendant, US national Omololu Akinlolu, 39, on Friday pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Mr Diaw occasioning him actual bodily harm.
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Akinlolu, a rapper who goes by the name Hoody Baby, has previously pleaded not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
Image: Brown’s co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu arrives at court. Pic: Reuters
The defendants sat side-by-side in the dock, looking straight ahead during the hearing in London.
Around 20 fans sat in the public gallery behind the dock for Friday’s hearing, with several gasping as Brown walked into the courtroom.
The Go Crazy singer was able to continue with his scheduled international tour after he was freed on conditional bail in May.
He had to pay a £5m security fee to the court as part of the bail agreement, which is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court and may be forfeited if they breach bail conditions.
Mr Diaw was standing at the bar of the Tape nightclub when he was struck several times with a bottle, and then pursued to a separate area of the venue where he was punched and kicked repeatedly, Manchester Magistrates’ Court previously heard.
Brown was arrested at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel at 2am on 15 May by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
He is said to have flown into Manchester Airport on a private jet in preparation for the UK tour dates.
Brown was released from HMP Forest Bank in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 21 May.
The singer, who rose to stardom as a teenager in 2005, won his first Grammy award for best R&B album in 2011 for F.A.M.E..
He earned his second in the same category for 11:11 (Deluxe) earlier this year.