New Mexico
Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s bodies still unclaimed more than a month after their deaths
The bodies of Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa remain unclaimed at a New Mexico medical examiner’s office more than a month after their deaths, according to reports.
Hackman and Arakawa – whose bodies were found in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26 – were still on the New Mexico Medical Examiner’s unclaimed decedents list as of Monday, TMZ reported.
That list is updated each week, indicating that as of days ago they were still lying in the local morgue.
But bodies lying unclaimed for up to a month is not necessarily unusual, officials told TMZ, indicating that the 95-year-old actor’s family could still be making funeral arrangements.
Hackman had long been open about his rocky relationship with his three kids, Chritopher, 65, Elizabeth, 63, and 58-year-old Leslie, commenting later in life how his career often kept him from home and distanced him from raising his family.
The father and his kids eventually reconciled, however.
After his death, the kids released a statement mourning their loss.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” they said.
“He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”
But none of them were named in their father’s will – with the entirety of his $80 million fortune reportedly going to Betsy, 65, who was his second wife and not the mother of his kids.
It remains unclear what will become of the cash.
The husband and wife were found dead in their home about two weeks after they’re believed to have died inside.
Arakawa is believed to have died about a week before Hackman after contracting a rare flu-like disease – hantavirus — carried by rodents, according to New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell.
Hackman is believed to have died days later from heart complications. He was also suffering from Alzheimer’s.
“He was in a very poor state of health,” Jarrell said at a press conference earlier in March. “He was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s disease and it was quite possible he did not know that she was deceased.”
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker will perform at the 2026 New Mexico State Fair, officials announced Tuesday.
Tucker will take to the stage Friday, Sept. 18, after the Chevron PRCA rodeo. The Grammy Award-winning icon has racked up 10 No. 1 country hits since her first hit, “Delta Dawn,” at age 13.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the legendary Tanya Tucker to the New Mexico State Fair,” said Dan Mourning, general manager of the New Mexico State Fair. “Tanya is one of the greatest icons in country music history and is the perfect fit for the Fair.”
Tucker has 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has won two Country Music Association awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, three CMT Awards and two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Song.
Tickets are set to go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.
Here is the full 2026 New Mexico State Fair rodeo-concert lineup:
Friday, Sept. 11
Turnpike Troubadours with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ian Munsick with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chevron PRCA Standalone Rodeo
Thursday, Sept. 17
Everclear with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Friday, Sept. 18
Tanya Tucker with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, Sept. 19
The Warning with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Sunday, Sept. 20
Chevron PRCA Rodeo – Matinee
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State investigators began searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico on Monday where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests amid allegations that the property may have been used for sexual abuse and sex trafficking of young women.
The office of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that the search was being done with the cooperation of the current ranch owners.
Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.
The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners,” the agency said in a statement. Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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