( NYPost )
Gene Hackman lived with his dead wife’s body for a full week before succumbing to complications from heart problems and advanced Alzheimer’s disease, officials said Friday as they revealed heartbreaking details of the legendary actor’s death.
His longtime love, Betsy Arakawa, died of Hantavirus, a rare flu-like disease linked to rats, likely on Feb. 11, the New Mexico officials said. The “French Connection” star, meanwhile, is believed to have died seven days later.
The tragic timeline ends the mystery that has surrounded the death of one of America’s most beloved actors, who was found with his wife on Feb. 26 inside their Santa Fe mansion.
Arakawa, 65, last left the sprawling estate on Feb. 11, which was also the last time she sent out any communications, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
She likely died of the virus that day, New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell said at a highly anticipated news conference Friday afternoon.
Hackman, 95, who had late-stage Alzheimer’s disease likely died roughly a week after his wife from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and from Alzheimer’s, Jarrell said. He tested negative for Hantavirus.
“He was in a very poor state of health,” Jarrell said. “He was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s disease and it was quite possible he did not know that she was deceased.”
Feb. 11: Arakawa last left her and Hackman’s home. Also the last time she sent out any communications, per sheriff
Feb. 17: Last detected activity on Hackman’s pacemaker, leading officials to believe that was likely when he died
Feb. 26: The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were discovered by maintenance and security workers at their Santa Fe, New Mexico mansion
The medical examiner noted that Hackman was not dehydrated at the time of his death — likely on Feb. 18, the day after his last recorded pacemaker activity.
The actor, however, didn’t have any food in his stomach.
Arakawa, meanwhile, probably picked up Hantavirus — which can only pass from animals to humans — after she was “exposed to rodent excrement,” Jarrell said.
The wife would have begun feeling sick three to six days before then “succumbing pretty quickly” to the virus, the ME said.
Jarrell said there were signs of “rodent entry” around the property but they “assessed the risk of exposure in the primary residence as low — similar to other well-maintained houses in New Mexico.”
The CDC was notified of Arakawa’s case, though there was no sign that there was any “abnormal” uptick in Hantavirus cases, New Mexico State Public Health Veterinarian Erin Phipps said.
Hantavirus, which can begin anywhere from a week to eight weeks after exposure, leads to flu-like symptoms like fever and nausea and quickly escalates to trouble breathing. Only 865 cases of the disease have been reported in the US between 1993 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were discovered by maintenance and security workers at their Santa Fe mansion on Feb. 26.
The two-time Oscar winner was found in the mud room of the home near his cane and sunglasses while his pianist wife was discovered in a bathroom with an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the counter.
One of their three dogs, Zinna, was also found dead in a crate in the bathroom closet near Arakawa. Their two other dogs, Bear, a German Shepherd and Nikita, an Akita-Shepherd mix survived and were found roaming inside and outside the property.
Mendoza said that Zinna’s remains were being examined and they were still awaiting the results of that examination. He noted that on Feb. 9, the dog had a procedure performed, which may explain why he was being kept in a crate.
Phipps said that dogs do not get sick from Hantavirus.
The couple’s bodies had begun decomposing and partially mummifying due to the dry air and high altitude of the area – located at the southern point of the Rocky Mountains.
Mendoza said it didn’t appear as though the couple had a caretaker helping out in the home.
The “Hoosiers” star’s pacemaker registered activity on Feb. 17 – nine days before the pair was found.
A further look at his pacemaker data showed, “abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation” a day later — “which was the last record of heart activity,” Jarrell said.
There were no external or internal signs of trauma on their bodies, Jarrell said her office found after performing autopsies on their remains on Feb. 27.
There were also no signs of “foul play,” initially, but their deaths were still deemed “suspicious” prompting a further probe, authorities said in the days after their deaths.
Mendoza laid out the timeline officials were able to piece together of Arakawa’s movements leading up to her death.
She picked up Zinna on Feb. 9 from the veterinary hospital. Feb. 11 was her last day out, Mendoza said.
That morning she emailed with her massage therapist and then in the afternoon she went to a farmers market before heading to CVS Pharmacy and then the pet store.
Arakawa then used her remote control clicker to enter the gated community where she lived with Hackman.
There were “numerous emails unopened on her computer on Feb. 11,” the sheriff said. But she didn’t send out any more outgoing communications after that day, he added.
Mendoza noted that while they are confident about the timeline they put together, they are still awaiting information from their cell phones and from the investigation of the dog’s remains.
He noted that nothing from the probe so far indicated that Hackman was tech savvy or used email or his cell phone.
Hackman and Arakawa, who met in the 1980s and married in 1991, had become notoriously private and insular and it was not uncommon for them to go long stretches without speaking to friends and family – so no alarm bells were raised by their lack of contact in the time after they died.
They also didn’t have any surveillance cameras inside their home to help piece together the circumstances surrounding their deaths, but investigators say it appeared that Hackman had suddenly fallen.
Initially theories swirled that the duo may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but testing of their remains appeared to prove otherwise. And a local gas company said they only found a “miniscule” gas leak coming from their stove, which wouldn’t have been enough to kill them.
Officials also previously said they were trying to crack the code for their cell phones to look at their correspondence in an effort to put together a timeline leading up to their deaths.
Hackman – who has battled health issues – was last publicly seen going into a medical appointment in March 2024. He appeared gaunt and frail at the time.
His daughter, Leslie Anne Allen, 58 – whom he had with his ex-wife Faye Maltese – said she and her dad “were close” but said she hadn’t been in contact with him for months.
Hackman had three children in total, all of whom he shared with Maltese.
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