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Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, were tragically found dead in their Santa Fe home on 26 February 2025.
After days of speculation and suspicion, their causes of death have finally been revealed.
According to Doctor Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Examiner for New Mexico, Betsy likely died around 18 February with her cause of death determined as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hantavirus is a rare disease spread by rodents.
Dr Jarrell emphasised the seriousness of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, explaining that people who contract the disease often “have fluid in their lungs and around their lungs,” adding that it can become terminal “very quickly.”
“At that point, a person can die very quickly, within 24 to 48 hours, roughly speaking, without medical treatment.”
Meanwhile, Gene died of heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease also a contributing factor to his death.
Dr Jarrell suggested that “it’s quite possible that [Gene] was not aware” his wife had died, given his advanced Alzheimer’s.
“There was no food in his stomach, which means he had not eaten recently, but he had no evidence of dehydration,” she said.
UPSETTING FINDING
A police investigation was underway for many days after their bodies were found, due to the “suspicious” nature of their deaths.
Builder Jesse Kesler, a contractor who worked for the couple for over 16 years, found them and called 911. He issued an official statement after his upsetting finding saying he will “never” comment on the “tragic event”, but he paid tribute to his long-term employers.
He told how they “will always be near and dear to my heart and greatly missed”.
Emergency services arrived at the $6.4 million Santa Fe home within a gated community during the early afternoon on February 26. They found the couple in different parts of the house while their dog was also found to have passed away.
Last week, close friends Barbara and Daniel Lenihan told The New York Post that Gene and Betsy had “become insular” in recent years.
“We used to spend a lot of time at their house but it’d been a while since they were comfortable having others over,” said Barbara. “They were a little insular and that was fine, it just got tougher for them to have people over.”
The last known photo of Gene in public, taken in March 2024, showed that the actor was frail and walked with a stick but otherwise active. Betsy, according to Barbara “tried to keep him kind of active and engaged”, while she was “in perfect health” she told People magazine. “She was so fit.”
HEALTH CONCERNS
Betsy and Gene married in 1991 after meeting in the late 1980s. It was the second marriage for the star of The French Connection, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1971. His other notable films included Superman, Mississippi Burning, The Birdcage and Unforgiven.
He retired from acting in 2004, partially due to health concerns after having heart problems that led him to need an angioplasty. Four years later he admitted he missed his career.
“I miss the actual acting part of it, as it’s what I did for almost 60 years, and I really loved that. But the business for me is very stressful,” he told Reuters.
Gene had three children – Elizabeth, 62, Leslie, 59, and Christopher, 65 – with his first wife, Faye Maltese who he split from in 1986. Leslie said last week how she hadn’t been in touch with Gene and Betsy for some time.
“We were close. I hadn’t talked to them for a couple of months, but everything was normal and everything was good,” she told the MailOnline.
The 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.”
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