On February 26, local time, 95-year-old Hollywood actor Gene Hackman and his Japanese wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. At the time, the police only revealed that the two did not die from external attacks, so some media speculated that they might have suffered an accidental carbon monoxide leak. The police immediately denied this hypothesis, but they were very secretive about the real cause of their death. It was not until March 7, local time, that the police finally announced the autopsy results.
Gene Hackman and his Japanese wife Bessie Arakawa in 2024
The autopsy showed that Arakawa, 65, died of rodent-related Hantavirus, and her estimated time of death was February 11. Hackman, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, stayed with his wife's body at home for a week before passing away on February 18, and her body was not discovered until another eight days later. It is really sad that a generation of screen tough guys ended their life in this way.
Hackman has lived in Santa Fe since the 1980s and married Bessie Arakawa, a 30-year-old classical musician, in 1991. The latter, who was born in Hawaii and is of Japanese descent, was working part-time at a gym in California when she met Hackman, who was 30 years older than her. Prior to that, Hackman had been married for 30 years and had three children until the marriage ended in divorce in 1986.
After their marriage, the two lived in a more remote gated community in the east of Santa Fe, and the house was located at the end of a dead end street. The police said that there was no surveillance installed inside or outside the house. On February 26, a maintenance worker came to their house and found that no one answered the door, so he contacted the security personnel and finally called the police. Subsequently, Hackman was found lying on the floor of the mudroom foyer of the house, with crutches next to him; while Arakawa's body was on the bathroom floor, and some common medicines were scattered on the nearby counter, but investigators determined that these drugs had nothing to do with her death. The final cause of death was infection with Hantavirus.
Heather Jarrell, New Mexico's chief medical examiner, said humans can be infected with hantavirus through contact with rodent excrement, especially deer mice, which are common in the state. The virus can cause flu-like symptoms and can quickly worsen into difficulty breathing and eventually heart and lung failure. In addition, Erin Phipps, a veterinarian with the state's public health department, pointed out that the number of cases of hantavirus infection in the state has ranged from 1 to 7 per year in the past five years. The virus is quite deadly, with a mortality rate of more than 40% among those infected in New Mexico over the past 50 years.
According to police investigation, Arakawa's activity in public places in the town ended on February 11, when she went shopping at a supermarket in the afternoon and was captured by surveillance cameras at a pharmacy. She returned to her community around 5:15 p.m. that day, but surveillance cameras could not confirm whether she was feeling unwell at the time. The police inferred that she was likely to have died of illness later that day.
Hackman's autopsy showed that he had severe heart disease, including evidence of multiple heart attacks, and had undergone multiple heart surgeries. Based on the records of his pacemaker, it is estimated that he died on February 18. His stomach was empty when he died, indicating that he had not eaten for some time before his death, but he did not seem to be dehydrated. In addition, his test results for Hantavirus were negative. Forensic doctor Jarrell concluded that Alzheimer's disease was the main cause of Hackman's death, "his health was very poor."
In addition to the two elderly people, their dog named Zinna, who had been brought back from the shelter, was found dead in a cage in the house. The autopsy results are still pending, and the veterinarian speculates that he died of dehydration or starvation. The other two German shepherds that were free in the house were in good health.
The local sheriff, Adam Mendoza, said investigators did not find that Hackman had contacted anyone after his wife's death. As for what the 95-year-old did during the period after his wife's death and whether he had tried to seek help, Mendoza said, "It's hard to put yourself in his shoes and understand the situation at the time. Perhaps we will never find the answer."
