Authorities in New Mexico have pieced together when and how Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died last month.
At a news conference on Friday, March 7, Santa Fe’s chief medical examiner shared the grim autopsy findings.
Dr. Heather Jarrell said Arakawa, 65, died from a hantavirus infection, while Hackman, 95, passed away from heart failure, with Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor.
“Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Jarrell told reporters. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.”
Investigators believe Arakawa died on Feb. 11. Then Hackman passed away on Feb. 18. The actor is believed to have spent a week alone and confused in the couple’s home while his wife’s body decomposed.
The autopsy showed Hackman’s stomach was empty, meaning he had not eaten in some time. The manner of death for both was ruled natural.
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Hantavirus is a rare infectious disease that can cause life-threatening lung and heart problems, according to the Mayo Clinic. “Infection is usually caused by inhaling hantaviruses that have become airborne from rodent urine, droppings or saliva.”
Investigators determined the date of Arakawa’s death from emails, surveillance videos, and the gate opener remote she had for the subdivision where the couple lived, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
Arakawa exchanged emails with her massage therapist on the morning of Feb. 11, Mendoza noted. That afternoon, she visited a farmers market, a CVS pharmacy and a pet food store. Cameras recorded her car entering the gate at the subdivision at 5:15 p.m. There were no other communications from her after that.
“Numerous emails from her computer were unopened… There was no additional outgoing communication from her or known activity after February 11th, 2025,” Mendoza said.
The medical examiner noted that Hackman’s pacemaker helped narrow down when he died.
“Mr. Hackman’s initial pacemaker data revealed cardiac activity on February 17th,” Dr. Jarrell said, adding that the last record of heart activity was on Feb. 18.
The couple were found dead on Feb. 26, when a person visiting their house noticed something was wrong and alerted neighborhood security.
After getting a 911 call, deputies made entry into the home and located the bodies.
Hackman’s body was found in an entryway. Arakawa was in a bathroom on her side and a space heater was near her head.
The couple’s dog Zinna was found dead in a kennel inside the bathroom closet, about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa. The sheriff said the dog had recently been to the vet to address some type of illness, which is probably why it was in a kennel.
The local gas company was called to the scene and found no signs of carbon monoxide, which is a colorless and odorless gas.
Hackman and Arakawa, a classical pianist, had been married since 1991.
The retired Hackman was a two-time Academy Award winner. He took home a best actor Oscar for his role in the 1971 crime drama The French Connection, and picked up a best supporting actor Oscar for his performance in the 1992 Clint Eastwood-directed Western Unforgiven.
His other notable performances were in the films Bonnie and Clyde, I Never Sang for My Father, Twice in a Lifetime, Mississippi Burning, Get Shorty, Enemy of the State, The Birdcage, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Superman.
In 2003, he received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
Above is video from the news conference on the deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa.
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