More than a week after the discovery of Gene Hackman’s bodies and his wife Betsy Arakawa, we finally know the causes of their death.
The investigation has finally made the veil in the last days of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The couple was found dead on February 26 in their home of Santa Fe (New Mexico, United States). Since then, theories have shot to try to explain their death, while the investigators were looking for the causes of the death. The criminal track was envisaged, as well as carbon monoxide poisoning and the domestic accident, until the conclusion of the autopsies, made on Saturday March 8, 2025, finally lift the veil on what happened.
The huge actor Gene Hackman (French connection, merciless), 95, suffered from Alzheimer’s syndrome and a cardiovascular problem. His wife, Betsy (65), took care of him. It is seen on video surveillance images of the city of Santa Fe for the last time on February 11. She went to the supermarket, the pharmacy and the pet store before going to the secure district where the couple lived. “After that, we no longer have any trace of activity,” explains the Sheriff Adam Mendoza, as reported The Parisian.
Betsy would have died first
According to the conclusions of the medical examiner, Betsy Arakawa died first of a pulmonary syndrome in Hantavirus. It is a rare infection transmitted by inhalation of particles contaminated by rodents. Traces of these particles were found in the couple’s barn. It can be concluded that it was in contact with excrement or mouse saliva. This infection led to severe respiratory failure to which it would have succumbed on February 11.
Being the only caregiver in Gene Hackman, the actor found himself alone and disoriented because of the advanced state of his Alzheimer syndrome. He would have wandered alone for six days in the house, with his wife’s body by his side without knowing what to do. He would not have eaten for several days. It was probably he who would have inadvertently locked his dog in the bathroom where he would have died of dehydration. The autopsy of the dog’s body should be carried out during the week.
It is ultimately the pacemaker of the actor who will have made it possible to determine the cause and the date of his death. He would have suffered from an irregular cardiac activity from February 17 before “an abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation on February 18”. The bodies were found 9 days later.
The isolation of the couple pointed out
So we can ask ourselves the question: how was a couple with such success and the family could be found 9 days after their death? Gene Hackman had had three children from a previous union with Faye Maltese, Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie. They have not been seen for a year, his children living in Los Angeles, more than 1,400 km from Santa Fe. His nephew, Tim Hackman, said “that there was progressive isolation” on the part of the couple.
But failing the family, they had friends in Hollywood who did not fail to pay tribute to them, such as Morgan FreemanClint Eastwood and Robert de Niro. However, no one seems to have worried about the couple for long weeks.
In addition to the distant family and friends who did not react, the couple lived closed, which prevented the neighborhood from discovering the bodies. It must be said that the couple had three dogs, and that the two who stayed alive remained alone for almost two weeks before the absence of the couple leaned the vicinity.