Gene Hackman is believed to have passed away a week after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and is in a high-level stage of Alzheimer’s disease, and medical authorities in New Mexico have concluded that she has not passed away.
New Mexico’s Chief Medical Inspector Dr. Heather Jarrell said at a press conference on Friday (March 7) that the autopsy was a performance on February 27th.
Jarrell said the couple died of natural causes with no evidence of internal or external trauma, Covid, influenza or other respiratory viruses, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hackman’s cause of death was given as hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (hypertension), and Alzheimer’s disease was given as an important contributor. The 95-year-old Oscar winner suffers from severe heart disease, and the autopsy revealed evidence of multiple surgical procedures, including hypertension-induced heart, multiple heart attacks and severe changes to the kidneys.
The cause of death was Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a 65-year-old Arakawa, and the way he died was natural. Jarrell said the scattered pills found near Arakawa’s body were not a concern for the cause of death for the contribution.
Dr. Erin Phipps of the New Mexico Department of Health explained that Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a severe respiratory disease that is transmitted through contact with infected rodents and cannot be passed from person to person.
Jarrell said there is no reliable scientific method to determine the exact time or date of death. However, Hackman’s pacemaker data showed cardiac activity on February 17th, and the last recorded cardiac activity, showing abnormal heart rhythm, was February 18th. “Based on this information,” she said.
The Chief Medical Inspector said it was reasonable to conclude that Arakawa was the first to die, and that February 11 was the last day she was known to be alive. Jarrell said he was asked if Hackman might have been unaware of his wife’s death. “That question is difficult to answer,” she said. “But we can tell him he was in a high level of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s quite possible that he didn’t know that she had passed away.”
Jarrell said it was “unprecedented” for the Hackman family to be aware of the autopsy discoveries and issued a public statement about the death investigation.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the case remains open while investigators continued to work through every detail. They still don’t know about the circumstances leading up to the death of Jinna, the couple’s dog, found in a wooden frame near Arakawa. It turns out that two other seemingly healthy dogs are alive in the facility.
Mendoza said Arakawa is known to have collected Xena after the February 9 procedure. On February 11th, she emailed a massage therapist and went to the market. CVS CCTV cameras show that she went to the pet food store after going to the pharmacy. There was a minor “fine and insignificant” gas leak from the kitchen stove.
On February 26th, Hackman was found in a mud room covered in grey sweatpants, a blue long-sleeved T-shirt and brown slippers. Sunglasses and a walking stick are nearby, and law enforcement officials initially said it appears he may have experienced a sudden fall.
Arakawa was found in a bathroom wearing dark gray sweatpants and a bright sweatshirt. Near her head there was a space heater, which she said could have fallen in if the woman suddenly fell to the ground.
Both bodies showed signs of decomposition, leading investigators to believe they had been dead for a while before their bodies were discovered.
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