Inside Gene Hackman’s and wife Betsy Arakawa’s tragic final moments before death

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy’s final moments have been pieced together following their tragic deaths. The couple were found dead in their Santa Fe home on February 26 alongside one of their dogs, Zinna. Details from a new press conference have now revealed that Gene, 95, died after his wife.

Medical investigator Dr Heather Jarrell confirmed it’s likely that Gene was alive for up to one week after Betsy’s death. The two-time Oscar-winning actor’s pacemaker recorded its last event on 17 February, while Betsy’s last known activity took place on 11 February, when she was last seen.

Video surveillance captured the classical pianist, 65, visiting a local CVS pharmacy and a dog food store before returning home to her shared home with the actor. This was also the last day she had active emails on her computer storage. Betsy had also picked up Zinna following a procedure she underwent just days earlier.

Gene died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, while Betsy died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare infectious disease that starts showing flu-like symptoms before progressing rapidly to more severe disease.

Zinna’s cause of death is yet to be determined, however, officials believe that it died from starvation. The dog was found dead in a cage near where Betsy’s body was discovered.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza added further details, revealing there were no signs indicating that Gene had consumed any food in the period leading up to his death.

He said: “Hackman was likely home with his deceased wife for one week before he died. There was no food in his stomach, which means he had not eaten recently, but he also had no evidence of dehydration.”

The French Connection star was also “in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s, and it’s quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased,” Dr Jarrell added.

She continued: “The cause of death for Mr. Gene Hackman 95 years is hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor.

“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.

“Examination of the brain showed advanced Alzheimer’s disease, as well as blood vessel changes in the brain secondary to chronic high blood pressure. Laboratory testing performed at scientific laboratories division was negative for COVID, 19, influenza and other common respiratory viruses.

“Testing for Hantavirus was negative. Testing for carbon monoxide was negative. Additionally, there were no autopsy findings concerning for Hantavirus infection.”