Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s cause of death revealed
The Oscar-winning actor was found dead alongside wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog in their home.
When Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead last month in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home, the community was shocked.
Their deaths seemed a mystery when maintenance workers called police after spotting the couple through a window on Feb. 26. Arakawa’s body was found in a bathroom and showed decomposition. The Oscar-winning actor was found in a mudroom with his cane. Their dog Zinna was found dead in a kennel. Their two dogs Nikita and Bear were found roaming the property and the front door was open. Officials ruled out an early theory of carbon monoxide poisoning as they investigated.
On Friday, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner shared how the couple died.
Arakawa, 65, died from Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease that is contracted by contact with mouse droppings, the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator announced Friday. According to the CDC, Hantaviruses “are spread mainly by rodents and are not spread from person-to-person.” And Hackman, 95, had heart disease and complications caused by Alzheimer’s disease and died from natural causes.
The revelation put to end endless theories on what happened to the couple. Officials tried to shed new light on the reclusive two-time Oscar winner’s last weeks in Santa Fe which he retreated to after leaving Hollywood. And they offered the heartbreaking fact that Hackman was alone at home with his dead wife for days.
But they also raised new questions about the state of Hackman’s health and why the couple wasn’t found sooner.
When did Gene Hackman die?
It appears that Arakawa died first, according to the medical examiner, likely around Feb. 11, the last time anyone had any communication from her.
Hackman’s was believed to have died about a week later, with his pacemaker last showing activity on Feb. 18, according to the medical examiner. Hackman “was in a very poor state of health” at the time of his death, said Dr. Heather Jarrell, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner.
Investigators were unclear how Hackman spent his last days. Jarrell said the autopsy showed that Hackman hadn’t eaten recently, but that he did not suffer from dehydration.
They couldn’t find that Hackman communicated with anyone after his wife died, but they didn’t know if he was able to take care of himself.
He likely didn’t know his wife had died, officials said, citing his Alzheimers disease.
“We consider this an open investigation” as there are “other loose ends we need to tie up,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza says.
But it’s possible, he said, that they won’t ever know all of the details of the case, such as if Hackman was trying to get help when he died.
How did Betsy Arakawa die?
Arakawa died from Hantavirus, which is a rare disease that humans can contract from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. Hantavirus cannot pass from person to person, and dogs cannot contract Hantavirus.
Hantavirus is now extremely rare, with only seven reported cases in New Mexico in 2024 according to the New Mexico Department of Health.
The disease was a mystery when it emerged mostly on the Navajo nation near the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah in 1993. It caused alarm through the area when a 19-year-old competitive marathon runner became short of breath after a fever and died a few days later in May of that year, according to the National Library of Medicine. After several more deaths and illnesses, a team of researchers from the CDC among other institutions was able to identify it as a new hantavirus strain and trace it to droppings from rodents.
How did Betsy Arakawa spend her last days
Arakawa spent her last days running errands, according to the sheriff’s office. They put together a timeline from video cameras and emails.
While they knew how she spent that day in town, it was unclear whether she was showing signs of illness. Thought Mendoza said they did believe Arakawa was wearing a mask.
On Feb. 9 Arakawa picked up their dog Zinna from a veterinary hospital. Zinna was a 12-year-old reddish Australian Kelpie mixed-breed who had once trained in agility skills to compete at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. (That dog was later found dead in a kennel, and it’s possible the dog died from dehydration or starvation, the state veterinarian said, but a necropsy will be done.)
Two days later on Feb. 11, Arakawa had an email conversation with her massage therapist in the afternoon. By 3:30 p.m. she was at Sprouts Farmers Market and just after 4 p.m. she was at CVS.
“She was walking around, she was shopping, she was visiting stores,” Mendoza said of the camera footage which helped investigators track her last day. “My detectives didn’t indicate that there was any problem with her or struggle of her getting around.”
She was spotted at a pet store just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 11, and returned home just after 5:15 pm. accroding to security at her gated subdivision.
She had numerous emails unopened later that day.
That was the last known communication from Arakawa or her husband.
Gene Hackman’s years in Santa Fe
For the past four decades, Santa Fe had become the ideal backdrop for the reluctant movie star to melt away into the community. Hackman delved into art and literature, writing most mornings by longhand and never past two o’clock in the afternoon, by his own admission, or else the writing would keep him up all night.
He took art classes in local workshops and painted prolifically, cranking out human model drawings, nudes and paintings. He gifted many of his paintings or gave them away to charity.
He and his wife had enjoyed relative anonymity in the Santa Fe community over the years, but were seen much less in past years.
When did sheriff’s deputies find Hackman?
Deputies had found the actor and Arakawa deceased at around 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 26. “Foul play is not suspected as a factor in those deaths,” the spokesperson said at the time, as the sheriff’s office investigated. But they did call the deaths suspicious.
Deputies did not see signs of forced entry into the residence, and the front door was open upon their arrival, according to a search warrant. The Santa Fe City Fire Department, working with the New Mexico Gas Co., did not find evidence of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning.
The death of the character actor, who won two Oscars in a more than 60-year career, caused intrigue and mourning amongst fans and industry peers. Hackman brought a rogue charm and everyman believability to iconic roles such as his best acting-winning performance as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in “The French Connection, his gleeful megalomaniac Lex Luthor in the “Superman” franchise and as a loathsome sheriff in his Oscar-winning “Unforgiven” role.
He brought sincerity to his role as a small-town Indiana basketball coach in the beloved 1986 drama “Hoosiers” as well as pure comedy to 2001’s “The Royal Tenenbaums” and an unforgettable cameo in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”
Search warrant affidavit paints grim picture of ‘suspicious’ Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa deaths
In the search warrant affidavit filing in February, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Detective Roy Arndt says the couple were found in different rooms in their home.
According to investigators, the scene was “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” after several things were found at the scene, including the front door open and unlocked, a healthy dog “running loose on the property,” another “healthy dog” found near Arakawa and a dead dog. They later confirmed that the dead dog was found in a closed kennel. That dog, Zinna, was the one that Arakawa had picked up from the veterinarian’s office on Feb. 9. It was unclear if it had been in the kennel because of its treatment at the vet.
They also cited an open pill bottle and scattered pills next to Arakawa and Hackman being in a different room than his wife. The pills included Tylenol, thyroid medication and diltiazem (used to treat high blood pressure.)
Betsy Arakawa found partially mummified, Gene Hackman was in separate room
Authorities found the actor in a mudroom near his cane, appearing to have fallen, while Arakawa was found in an open bathroom near a space heater, according to the warrant.
A deputy observed Arakawa with “body decomposition, bloating in her face” and mummification of her hands and feet.
The New Mexico Gas Co. investigated the residence, the warrant said, but “as of now, there are no signs or evidence indicating there were any problems associated to the pipes in and around the residence.”
Gene Hackman’s health struggles: What is angina?
Hackman, who was largely out of the spotlight in the last two decades, underwent an angioplasty procedure in 1990 after a spell of angina. According to the Mayo Clinic, angina is chest pain that occurs when blood flow to the heart is restricted.
In 2012, the Academy Award winner was hit by a pickup truck while riding his bike. Hackman’s publicist told CNN at the time that the accident wasn’t serious, “just a few bumps and bruises.”
Family, Hollywood mourn Gene Hackman
Hackman was widely celebrated for movies like “The French Connection,” which won him his first Oscar, and “Unforgiven,” which won him his second. He was also Oscar nominated for his roles in “Bonnie and Clyde,” “I Never Sang for My Father,” and “Mississippi Burning,” and he starred as Lex Luthor opposite Christopher Reeve’s Superman in “Superman” and “Superman II.”
In a statement to USA TODAY on Thursday, Hackman’s daughters – Elizabeth and Leslie Hackman – and granddaughter Annie said they were “devastated by the loss.”
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy,” they said. “He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely.”
In a statement provided to USA TODAY, Clint Eastwood, who directed and co-starred with Hackman in “Unforgiven,” said, “There was no finer actor than Gene. Intense and instinctive. Never a false note. He was also a dear friend whom I will miss very much.”
Nathan Lane, who starred alongside Hackman in “The Birdcage,” called him his “favorite actor.”
“Getting to watch him up close it was easy to see why he was one of our greatest. You could never catch him acting,” Lane said in a statement shared with USA TODAY Thursday. “Simple and true, thoughtful and soulful, with just a hint of danger. He was as brilliant in comedy as he was in drama and thankfully his film legacy will live on forever. It was a tremendous privilege to get to share the screen with him and remains one of my fondest memories. Rest in peace, Mr. Hackman.”
Tom Hanks, another Hollywood everyman, took to Instagram to mourn Hackman’s loss, writing, “There has never been a ‘Gene Hackman Type.’ There has only been Gene Hackman.”
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, Rick Jervis, Marco dellaCava, Bryan Alexander, Anika Reed, USA TODAY
