After the bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa turned up inside their Santa Fe estate on February 26, 2025, the sheriff’s office called the deaths “suspicious.”
The New Mexico medical examiner reached a startling conclusion: They died on different days from unrelated natural causes.
Based on autopsy results, the medical examiner concluded that Arakawa died on or about February 12 from a rare, rodent-borne virus. Hackman died six days later from heart failure and advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
Although the authorities ruled out foul play, puzzling questions remain unanswered:
–When deputies arrived at the house, why was the front door ajar?
–After Arakawa fell seriously ill, why didn’t she dial 911?
–What happened inside the house after Arakawa died but Hackman remained alive?
–Why didn’t anyone check on the couple for two weeks?
–Arakawa was Hackman’s sole heir, so who stands to inherit his assets?
Bodies lying on the floor
Two-time Oscar winner Eugene Allen “Gene” Hackman, aged 95, and his second wife, 65-year-old Michiko “Betsy” Arakawa, a classical musician, lived in a gated community above Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The sprawling home, extensively remodeled by Hackman after he bought it in 1990, and currently valued at $3.8 million, sits on twelve pinyon-cloaked acres and enjoys panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
On Wednesday afternoon, February 26, a maintenance worker arrived at the property and became concerned when no one responded. He asked a neighborhood security guard to perform a welfare check.
The guard looked through the home’s windows and spotted bodies lying on the floor. At 1:43 p.m., the guard called 911.
The front door was ajar
Minutes later, when a pair of Santa Fe sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home, they noticed that the front door was ajar. But they didn’t see any sign of forced entry.
After the deputies entered, they spotted Arakawa, dressed in sweats, lying on a bathroom floor. Her feet were bare. They saw a space heater near her head and scattered pills on the bathroom countertop.
The sheriff’s office later reported that Arakawa “showed obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet.”
A nearby pet crate held the body of Arakawa’s beloved dog, an Australian Kelpie mix named Zinfandel or “Zinna” for short. Two other dogs – German Shepherds named Bear and Nikita – remained alive.
Hackman’s body turned up in a mudroom off the kitchen, clothed in sweatpants, a T-shirt, and slippers. A walking cane and sunglasses lay on the ground beside him.
Suspicious enough to require investigation
The sheriff’s office, believing that the circumstances were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” obtained a search warrant and scoured the house for clues.
Although no explanation emerged for why the front door was ajar when deputies arrived, investigators didn’t uncover any evidence that an intruder had gotten inside.
The New Mexico Gas Company also investigated and found no evidence of carbon monoxide as a possible factor in the deaths.
The only gas leak – slight seepage from a burner on the kitchen stove – was deemed insignificant.
Arakawa ran errands on February 11
On Tuesday, February 11, the day before authorities believe Arakawa died, she was well enough to run errands in town.
At 3:30 p.m., Arakawa went shopping at Sprout’s Farmer’s Market. At 4:20 p.m. she visited a nearby CVS and afterwards went to a pet store. At 5:15 p.m., she drove back through the gates of the Santa Fe Summit community.
Earlier in the day, Arakawa had emailed her massage therapist. But after returning home she didn’t send any further emails.
The next day, Arakawa placed three phone calls to Cloudberry Health, a concierge medical center in Santa Fe. Whatever took place in those calls remains a mystery, but apparently the calls didn’t raise any red flags.
A fearsome 42% mortality rate
On March 7, authorities held a news conference where Dr. Heather Jarrell, New Mexico’s chief medical investigator, announced her findings.
The pills found scattered on the bathroom countertop near Arakawa’s body were prescription thyroid medication that didn’t factor into her death.
According to Dr. Jarrell, Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, likely around the date that she ceased making calls and answering emails.
Hantavirus is carried in the urine and feces of infected rodents – often deer mice. Humans contract the virus by inhaling particles; there’s no human-to-human transmission.
Hantavirus initially presents as flu-like symptoms in humans, but as the infection progresses it can cause the victim’s lungs to flood and their heart to swell.
It’s a rare disease, with only 136 cases reported in New Mexico over the past fifty years. But the mortality rate in those cases was a fearsome 42%.
This raises the question: When Arakawa fell seriously ill, why didn’t she or Hackman dial 911?
Hackman’s heart went into atrial fibrillation
Dr. Jarrell said that Hackman died of “severe heart disease” and had evidence of prior heart attacks and unspecified heart procedures.
Analysis of Hackman’s pacemaker revealed that his heart went into atrial fibrillation on February 18, about a week after his wife died. That was the last recorded activity.
Hackman’s autopsy also showed that he suffered from “advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” which may explain why days passed without him seeking help.
But Hackman was apparently well enough to walk around, and although his stomach was empty, he wasn’t dehydrated.
“No findings of trauma”
According to Dr. Jarrell, the autopsies of Hackman and Arakawa yielded “no findings of trauma, internally or externally.”
The autopsies also revealed no evidence of carbon monoxide or other poisoning – nothing to suggest foul play or third-party responsibility for the troubling deaths.
Although hantavirus has been studied as a possible bioweapon, there’s no evidence that something so far-fetched occurred in this case.
Examination of the house turned up no evidence of rodent infestation, but evidence of rodents was found elsewhere on the Hackman estate. Maybe Arakawa encountered rodent excrement and cleaned up without taking proper precautions – disposable gloves and an N95 mask?
A necropsy of Zinna revealed that the dog, confined inside a pet crate, died of dehydration and starvation.
Last spotted a year earlier
As for why Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies weren’t found earlier, the explanation appears to be that they lived a private life in a secluded location.
According to Page Six, the couple hadn’t been seen together in public for a year before they died.
Still, questions remain about why family and friends didn’t check on them more often.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza acknowledged in the March 7 news conference that some of the puzzling questions surrounding the case may never be answered.
A possible windfall to Hackman’s children
The timing of Arakawa’s death could result in a huge financial benefit for Hackman’s children from his prior marriage.
Hackman’s assets were held in trust, with Arakawa designated as his sole beneficiary. But because Arakawa predeceased her husband, the question now is what will happen to the famous actor’s substantial wealth.
Hackman’s ex-wife, Faye Maltese, died in 2017, but their three children are still alive: Christoper, aged 65; Elizabeth, aged 62; and Leslie, aged 58.
If Arakawa had outlived Hackman – which may have seemed like a foregone conclusion to a couple in a May-December romance – his children reportedly would have gotten nothing from the trust.
Hackman last updated his trust in 2005, and the trustee passed away some time ago. On March 20, a judge in Santa Fe appointed a successor trustee.
The trustee will need to sort out the details, but because Arakawa died first, Hackman’s children may end up receiving a windfall.
