Officials on Friday announced the causes of death for actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, more than a week after the couple’s bodies were found in their New Mexico home.
An autopsy revealed Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory virus contracted through exposure to excrement of an infected mouse, said Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner at New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator. Officials said they believe Arakawa likely died on Feb. 11, the last day she sent an outgoing communication.
Hackman’s autopsy revealed he died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor, Jarrell said. He tested negative for hantavirus. Officials said they believe he died around Feb. 18.
Hackman and Arakawa both tested negative for carbon monoxide, and neither body had evidence of acute internal or external trauma, Jarrell said.
Hackman, Arakawa and one of their dogs were found dead in their New Mexico home on Feb. 26. The couple’s bodies were discovered by two maintenance workers who said the front door was ajar when they arrived, according to a search warrant.
Hackman, 95, was found in a mudroom, while Arakawa, 65, was found in a bathroom. The dog, reportedly an Australian kelpie mix named Zinna, was found in a closet in the bathroom. Two other dogs were found alive on the property.
Officials are awaiting Zinna’s necropsy results, they said Friday. Arakawa picked up Zinna from a veterinary hospital on Feb. 6 after the dog underwent a procedure, Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said at the news conference Friday announcing the couple’s causes of death. Dogs are not known to become infected with hantavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The search warrant described their deaths as “suspicious” and noted that an open prescription pill bottle was on the bathroom counter near Arakawa, along with scattered pills. Officials said Friday that the pills were thyroid medication that were being taken as prescribed. They do not believe the pills contributed to her death.
Mendoza had told NBC’s “TODAY” show on Feb. 28 that he was “pretty confident” there was no foul play involved, but noted that investigators were “not ruling that out.”
Investigators said last week that the couple may have been dead for days or even several weeks before they were found, noting that Hackman likely died on Feb. 17 — the day his pacemaker last recorded an “event.” But Jarrell, the chief medical examiner, said Friday that the pacemaker recorded an “abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation” on Feb. 18 and that he likely died around that day.
In a statement last week, Hackman’s family 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 and are devastated by the loss.”
