New details have emerged in the sudden deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
The couple, who married in 1991, were found dead at their New Mexico home on Thursday, Feb. 27, Parade previously reported.
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Though the investigation into Hackman and Arakawa's "suspicious" deaths is still ongoing, law enforcement officials have now addressed what's been called a "very important" piece of "evidence" in the case.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza spoke with Today's Savannah Guthrie on Friday morning about an item that was found in the couple's home. As several outlets reported, authorities located a pill bottle and spilled pills near Arakawa's body.
The contents of the bottle have not been and may never be revealed to the public, leading Guthrie to ask Mendoza if he believed "it may be possible that that prescription could be related in any way to the deaths that we’ve seen here?"
"That’s obviously very important evidence at the scene," Mendoza said, explaining as much as he could without jeopardizing the investigation.
"That information was collected, that information was passed to the office of the medical investigator to help them make a determination," he added. "So we’re looking at that specifically and other medications that were possibly in the residence."
To answer Guthrie's question, he revealed it "is something of concern" until ruled out.
Related: Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Seen During Final Public Appearance Year Before Death
Hackman's daughter previously suggested that she believed the cause of death to be related to carbon monoxide poisoning, something Sante Fe Fire officials told Today that even though their investigation didn't find high levels of the toxic gas, the possibility isn't being excluded just yet.
Unfortunately for the family, it could be some time before they have real answers in this tragedy.
"Based on my experience, a toxicology report could take some time, it could take up to three months or even possibly longer," Mendoza shared on Friday. "It just depends how busy the laboratory is. But we’re hoping it comes sooner than later so we can answer some of these questions and hopefully it’ll help us in our investigation to help determine the matter and cause of death."
That said, police are "pretty confident there’s no foul play just based on the lack of evidence of foul play." But they "of course are not ruling that out."
"The autopsy results, the official results, are going to help steer us in the right direction. That could change and we’re not ruling that out," Mendoza said. "This is an open investigation, it’s a couple of days old, so we’re putting together the timeline and we’re trying to look at all the evidence."
"The autopsy is key," Mendoza added. "That’s going to take some time, so I hope a little bit of patience on the family’s part, on everybody’s part, so we can have some answers into these deaths."
Next: Gene Hackman Was Once ‘Expelled’ From Acting School, Dustin Hoffman Recalls in Sweet Tribute
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