Gene Hackman is believed to have died one week after his wife Betsy Arakawa and was in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, leading medical a
Gene Hackman is believed to have died one week after his wife Betsy Arakawa and was in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, leading medical authorities in New Mexico to conclude he may not have been aware of her passing.
Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner for New Mexico, told a press conference on Friday (March 7) that autopsies were performance on February 27, one day after the couple were found dead in their Santa Fe home by a maintenance worker.
Jarrell said the couple died of natural causes, with no evidence of internal or external trauma, COVID, flu or any other respiratory virus, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hackman’s cause of death was given as hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure), with Alzheimer’s Disease as a significant contributory factor. The 95-year-old Oscar winner had severe heart disease and the autopsy revealed evidence of multiple surgical procedures involving the heart, multiple heart attacks, and severe change to the kidneys due to high blood pressure.
The cause of death given for Arakawa, 65, was hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and the manner of death was natural. Jarrell said scattered pills found near Arakawa’s body were not a concern for contributory cause of death.
Dr Erin Phipps from the New Mexico Department of Health explained that hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a severe respiratory illness transmitted through contact with infected rodents and cannot be passed from person to person.
Jarrell said there was no reliable scientific method to determine exact time or date of death. However Hackman’s pacemaker data showed cardiac activity on February 17 and the last record of heart activity demonstrating abnormal heart rhythm was on February 18. “Based on this information,” she said, “it is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Hackman probably died around February the eighteenth.”
The chief medical examiner said it was reasonable to conclude that Arakawa died first, with February 11 being the last day she was known to be alive. Jarrell said she had been asked if it was possible that Hackman had been unaware of his wife’s passing. “That question’s difficult to answer,” she said. “But I can tell you he was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s and it’s quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased.”
Jarrell added that the Hackman family had been made aware of the autopsy findings and said while it was “unprecedented” for her office to make public statements about death investigations, “the circumstances around these two deaths require accurate dissemination of important information”.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the case remained open while investigators continued to work through every detail. They still do not know how the couple’s dog died. A German Shepherd called Xena was found in a crate near Arakawa. Two other seemingly well dogs were found alive on the property.
Mendoza said Arakawa was known to have collected Xena after a procedure on February 9. On February 11 she emailed a massage therapist and went to a market. CVS CCTV cameras show she went to the pharmacy and then to a pet food store. There was a “minute and insignificant” minor gas leak from the kitchen stove.
On February 26, Hackman was found in a mud room clad in grey sweatpants, a blue long-sleeve T-shirt, and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking stick were nearby and law enforcement officers initially said it appeared he may have experienced a sudden fall.
Arakawa was discovered in a bathroom wearing dim grey sweatpants and a delicate sweatshirt. There was a space heater near her head which an attending officer said could have fallen in the event the woman abruptly fell to the ground.
Both bodies exhibited signs of decomposition, leading investigators to believe they had been dead for some time before their bodies were discovered.
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