SANTA FE, New Mexico – According to autopsy results released on Friday in New Mexico, Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease and other causes, likely days after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of a rare mouse-borne disease.
The 95-year-old Oscar-winning actor, 64-year-old Arakawa, and one of their dogs were discovered dead on February 26 in different rooms of their Santa Fe home.
Hackman’s heart disease and the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome that killed Arakawa were revealed at a press conference at the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office.
The results revealed that Hackman’s wife died days before him. A reporter asked Sheriff Adan Mendoza if Hackman’s Alzheimer’s prevented him from recognizing her death.
“I would assume that is the case,” Mendoza told reporters.
“It is quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased,” Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, told reporters.
Authorities believe Arakawa died around February 11, based on the date of her last email.
Last week, the sheriff told reporters that a pathologist determined that the last signal from Hackman’s pacemaker came on February 17, indicating that that was most likely the actor’s last day.
Hantavirus is a rare disease in the United States, with the majority of cases occurring in the western states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. In northern New Mexico, the virus is transmitted through deer mouse droppings and urine. The virus is frequently spread through the air when people sweep out sheds or clean closets where mice have lived.
Hackman and Arakawa, a pianist, have lived in Santa Fe since the 1980s and are active in the city’s art and culinary scenes. As his health deteriorated, the couple became less visible in town. Mendoza stated that they lived a very private life prior to their deaths.
A gated community caretaker discovered the couple dead. Sheriff’s deputies discovered Hackman in the kitchen. Arakawa and a dog were discovered in a bathroom.
Both Hackman and Arakawa appeared to have fallen to the floor unexpectedly, with no signs of blunt force trauma.
Arakawa had picked up one of her dogs in a crate from a Santa Fe veterinarian on February 9, which could explain why the animal was discovered dead in the crate at the couple’s home on February 26, according to Mendoza. According to state veterinarian Erin Phipps, the dog may have died from starvation.
Hackman, a former Marine known for his raspy voice, had a long career that began in the early 1960s and included appearances in over 80 films, television, and on stage.
He received his first Academy Award nomination for his breakthrough performance as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” He won an Oscar for best actor in 1972 for his portrayal of detective Popeye Doyle in “The French Connection,” and again in 1993 for best supporting actor in “Unforgiven.”