Actor Gene Hackman, a Hollywood legend, died of heart disease approximately one week after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, succumbed to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home, authorities announced Friday. The revelations, delivered during a news conference by New Mexico’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell alongside state fire and health officials, paint a poignant picture of the couple’s final days, compounded by Hackman’s advanced Alzheimer’s disease, which may have left him unaware of his wife’s passing.
“Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Jarrell stated. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.” The 95-year-old Oscar winner’s death was ruled natural, tied to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s as a contributing factor. Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus—a rare, rodent-borne illness—marking New Mexico’s first confirmed case of 2025. Both deaths, discovered on February 26, were deemed natural, with no foul play suspected after initial tests ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza outlined Arakawa’s last known movements: on February 11, she visited a pharmacy, pet store, and farmers’ market, entering their gated community at 5:15 PM. No further communication or activity was recorded, suggesting she died that day or shortly after. Hackman’s pacemaker logged its final activity on February 18, showing an abnormal rhythm—atrial fibrillation—indicating his likely date of death. “It’s quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Jarrell noted, given his Alzheimer’s severity and lack of food in his stomach, hinting he hadn’t eaten recently.
The couple’s bodies were found decomposing, with some mummification—a result of Santa Fe’s dry, high-altitude climate (7,200 feet)—when maintenance workers alerted police on February 26. Hackman lay in the home’s mudroom near a cane and sunglasses, while Arakawa was in a bathroom, near scattered thyroid medication pills unrelated to her death. One of their three dogs was found dead in a crate nearby, possibly from starvation, awaiting necropsy results. Two other dogs survived. “Dogs do not get sick from hantavirus,” affirmed Dr. Erin Phipps, New Mexico’s public health veterinarian.
Arakawa’s death from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome underscores its rarity and lethality. Spread by deer mice through droppings, urine, or saliva, the virus—common in New Mexico’s Southwest—carries a 38-50% mortality rate. Symptoms mimic the flu before escalating to lung fluid buildup, potentially fatal within 24-48 hours without treatment, Jarrell explained. Though typically reported in spring and summer, this winter case highlights its unpredictability. Phipps noted “low risk” in the main house but evidence of rodent entry elsewhere on the property, per Web ID 15.
Hackman, who won Oscars for The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992), retired from acting in 2004 after a prolific career spanning Bonnie and Clyde, Superman, and Hoosiers. In Santa Fe since the late 1980s, he embraced a quiet life of painting and novel-writing, serving on the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum board and investing locally with Arakawa. She, a Hawaiian-born classical pianist, met Hackman in the 1980s at a California gym, marrying him in 1991 after his divorce from Fay Maltese, with whom he had three children.
Their Pueblo-revival stucco home, perched in a gated hillside community, reflected Santa Fe’s allure for artists and celebrities. Morgan Freeman paid tribute at the March 2 Oscars, saying, “Gene always said, ‘I don’t think about legacy. I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work.’ Rest in peace, my friend” (Web ID 2).
The case remains open pending cellphone data analysis and the dog’s necropsy, Sheriff Mendoza said. The couple’s deaths, though natural, have stirred public curiosity, amplified by initial X posts questioning the circumstances (Post IDs 3, 5). Authorities’ transparency aims to quell speculation, affirming a tragic, not suspicious, end to two remarkable lives.