Authorities now believe that Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a week after his wife had passed away from hantavirus — and may not have know his wife was dead because of advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
According to the Associated Press, those were the findings of Santa Fe chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell. The deaths of Hackman, 95, and wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, “were ruled to be from natural causes.” The bodies of the couple were found about a week after Hackman’s death in their New Mexico home.
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The report states that Arakawa’s death is linked “to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings.” The illness is “reported in spring and summer, often due to exposures that occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas.” Arakawa’s is the first case of hantavirus in New Mexico in 2025.
Hackman, a two-time Oscar winner for his performances in the films The French Connection and Unforgiven, retired from acting in 2003 and has largely lived a private life in the 20+ years since. (During his retirement, he became an author and wrote several novels of historical fiction.) Hackman had a history of heart disease as well as a pacemaker, which last showed activity on February 18, a week after Arakawa is believed to have died. The couple’s bodies were found in their home on February 26.
Jarrell said that Hackman “had significant heart disease” and added “I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.”
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