His wife dead, an ailing Gene Hackman was stranded alone in his house for days, authorities believe
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Betsy Arakawa appeared to go about her normal routine in early February.
She ran errands around Santa Fe while wearing a face mask. She visited a Sprouts grocery store, CVS pharmacy and a pet store while emailing her massage therapist, officials said.
Investigators now believe she died two days later on Feb. 11. Her body was later found in the bathroom of the home she shared with her husband, actor Gene Hackman. Prescription pills were scattered on a nearby countertop.
Hackman, 95, appears to have lived inside the home for several more days, succumbing to heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. He was found in another room with a walking cane and a pair of sunglasses by his body. Officials believe he died on Feb. 18.
Their bodies were discovered Feb. 26 by maintenance workers at their home in the Santa Fe Summit housing community.
Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were described as private but neighborly by those who got to know them over many years.
The tragic revelations, made Friday by authorities in New Mexico, resolve many questions raised by the unusual deaths.
Hackman had lived in Santa Fe for years, giving up the Hollywood glitz for a quieter life of painting, community events, bike riding and Pilates with his classic pianist wife, friends said. His health appeared to be declining in recent times, and Arakawa was caring for him, some friends said.
What do we know about Hackman’s death?
Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner at the medical investigator’s office, performed the autopsy on Hackman and said his brain showed “advanced Alzheimer’s disease as well as blood vessel changes in the brain secondary to chronic high blood pressure.”
“He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that is what resulted in his death,” Jarrell said.
When asked whether Hackman’s Alzheimer’s disease prevented him from being able to tell if his wife was dead, Jarrell could not say.
Santa Fe County officials announced that actor Gene Hackman died from heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor and that his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus. Rodents were considered a contributing factor in her death.
“I think that question is difficult to answer, but I can tell you that he was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s, and it is quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased,” Jarrell said.
What about Arakawa?
Investigators pieced together Arakawa’s last days through surveillance footage and emails, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
She picked up her dog from a veterinary hospital on Feb. 9. Then she was seen on surveillance footage on Feb. 11 at a local Sprouts supermarket around 3:30 p.m. and a CVS Pharmacy shortly before 4:30 p.m., according to investigators.
She stopped at a pet food store and shortly before 5 p.m. returned to her neighborhood and activated the remote control to open the gate to her subdivision. Earlier in the day, Arakawa wrote to her massage therapist over email. There was no email activity on the following day, according to officials.
Though Jarrell did not pinpoint exactly where Arakawa contracted hantavirus, they did note that it is transmitted by rodent droppings or saliva, and characterized by flu like symptoms, fever, muscle aches, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.
The bodies of actor Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were discovered in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday afternoon during a welfare check, officials said.
Erin Phipps, New Mexico state public health veterinarian, said there were signs of rodent entry in some structures on the property.
Roughly 38% to 50% of people in the Southwest who are infected and experience respiratory symptoms die from the disease, officials said.
What do we know about how the couple was found?
They were found by a pair of maintenance workers in their housing community shortly before 2 p.m. on Feb. 26.
The workers then notified a community caretaker, who went to the home and then called 911.
The caretaker didn’t have all the information when he called but said he was looking through a window at two bodies lying on the floor inside.
The caller can be heard on the 911 audio telling the dispatcher that he could see what appeared to be two motionless bodies inside the house. Shaken, he repeatedly says “damn” and urges authorities to rapidly respond.
“No, they are not moving. Please send someone out here quick,” the caller says.
Hackman’s body was found on the floor near the kitchen and a mudroom, according to a court affidavit. Arakawa’s body was found in a bathroom by the home’s main entrance, and prescription pills were scattered on a nearby countertop. Mendoza said he could not release details about the prescriptions due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Actor Gene Hackman got his break in ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and rose to stardom in ‘The French Connection.’ He was 95.
The positioning of the couple’s bodies indicated that they may have suddenly fallen, according to the affidavit.
A dog was found dead inside the home while two other dogs were alive on the property and able to enter and exit the residence through a door at the back. The dog’s cause of death is unknown.
Officials later revealed that they removed medication to treat high blood pressure, Tylenol and a medication to treat the thyroid, according to court records.
What do we know about hantavirus?
The condition is rare but deadly — with a mortality rate between 38% and 50% among those infected in the American Southwest, Jarrell said.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread by rodent feces, saliva and urine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most hantaviruses found in the United States can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Betsy Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rodent-spread disease with a mortality rate up to 50% in the American Southwest, officials said.
People can contract the syndrome by breathing in the air when cleaning up after rodents. It can also be spread by touching contaminated objects and then touching your nose or mouth, getting bitten or scratched by an infected rodent or eating food contaminated with hantavirus, according to the CDC.
Phipps noted that Arakawa and Hackman’s home had a “low risk” of exposure to hantavirus, but said there were signs of rodents in other structures on the property. She said that, in the last five years, New Mexico has confirmed one to seven hantavirus cases annually.
A total of 122 cases and 52 deaths were reported in New Mexico between 1993, when surveillance began, and 2022, the most recent year for which the CDC has data publicly available. California reported 78 cases and 24 deaths in that same time span.
The California cases include a hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite National Park in summer 2012 that infected visitors staying in tent cabins. Of the 10 people who were infected, eight experienced hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, five required intensive care with ventilatory support, and three died.
The deer mouse is the most common vector of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the U.S., according to the CDC.
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