Legendary actor Gene Hackman was alone and alive for a week in his New Mexico mansion after his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, died unexpectedly.
That revelation from police ends speculation about potential foul play in the mystery deaths of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, whose partially mummified bodies were found by police Feb. 26 after a neighbor called in a welfare check.
New Mexico Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell said Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory illness transmitted from rodents to humans, with her last digital communications taking place on Feb. 11.
Hackman’s pacemaker stopped working on Feb. 18, Jarrell said, leading authorities to believe that is when he died from heart disease, with Alzheimer’s also playing a “significant” factor.
Hackman had no food in his stomach at the time of his death, Jarrell said, but he was not dehydrated. Asked if this meant Hackman was in poor health while he lived for a week under the same roof as his dead wife, Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said, “Yes, I would assume that that is the case.”
Jarrell said Hackman’s autopsy revealed he had “multiple surgical procedures involving the heart,” suggesting a history of “prior heart attacks and severe changes of the kidneys due to chronic high blood pressure.”
Mendoza said police received no emergency calls from the Hackman household.
Asked if Hackman was mentally fit enough to care for himself, Jarrell emphasized again how much the two-time Oscar winner’s health had deteriorated.
“I’m not aware of what his normal daily functioning capability was,” she said. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that is what resulted in his in his death.”
Mendoza added that it remains a mystery what Hackman did for a week on his own.
“It’s hard to get into the frame of mind of what was happening at the time,” the sheriff said.
A reporter speculated that Hackman may have been trying to get help for his wife when he collapsed and died.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever have the answer to that question,” Mendoza responded.
Friday’s news conference likely puts to bed conspiracies that emerged last month when police announced they had found the bodies of Hackman, his wife, and one of their dogs in different areas of their home.
Hackman’s body was found on the floor of a mudroom near his cane, police said, while Arakawa was found lying on a bathroom floor.
A search warrant from police that described the couple’s deaths as “suspicious” stoked conspiracy theories in the immediate aftermath of the news. Among details that concerned police, according to the warrant, was that a door was left ajar, the couple’s bodies were in separate rooms, and an open pill bottle was discovered with pills scattered across the floor near Arakawa.
Two of Hackman’s children told media outlets that they initially suspected a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning had been responsible for the three deaths—a theory that also swirled online.
Investigators ruled out a gas leak or carbon monoxide on Tuesday after an “extensive investigation” uncovered “no significant findings,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
