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Gene Hackman died a week after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, had passed away due to hantavirus

By Kevin Fraser

Posted 1 year ago

Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa, cause of death

Last Updated on March 19, 2025

We were all shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, last week. There have been plenty of rumours and speculation about what led to their deaths, but authorities may finally know what happened.

According to Dr. Heather Jarrell, the chief medical examiner for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, Hackman died of cardiovascular disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease listed as a significant contributing factor. “It is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Hackman died on February 17th,” Dr. Jarrell said. “He was in very poor health.” In the case of Arakawa, she’s believed to have died a week earlier, on or around February 11th. The cause of Arakawa’s death is hantavirus, a potentially fatal virus transmitted by mice.

There’s also evidence that Hackman hadn’t eaten for a number of days before his death. It’s truly awful to imagine.

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“The cause of death for Mr. Gene Hackman, aged 95 years, is hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor,” Dr. Jarrell explained. “Autopsy examination and a full body post mortem CT examination demonstrated no acute findings of internal or external trauma, and showed severe heart disease, including multiple surgical procedures involving the heart, evidence of prior heart attacks and severe changes of the kidneys due to chronic high Blood Pressure.“

During a news conference, Santa Fe Sherriff Adan Mendoza said that Arakawa was seen running errands on February 11th. She visited the Sprouts market and a CVS pharmacy and also emailed a massage therapist. Her vehicle was seen entering the gated subdivision where she and Hackman lived at around 5:15 pm, but the investigation couldn’t find any evidence of activity or communications beyond that time. In addition to Hackman and Arakawa, one of the couple’s three dogs was also found deceased at the scene.

Tags: Gene Hackman

About the Author

Kevin Fraser

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Favorite Movies: Alien, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, read more Braveheart, The Bridge on the River Kwai, City of God, Cloud Atlas, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Edge, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Godfather Parts I & II, Goodfellas, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Prestige, Prisoners, Psycho, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rear Window, The Shining, Sorcerer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, There Will be Blood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Zodiac

Likes: Drawing, cooking, watching movies, trying and failing to come up with read more more items for my likes list.

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