A New Mexico doctor claimed that Gene Hackman’s wife called his office a day after police said she died.
Officials confirmed that pianist Betsy Arakawa, aged 65, passed away on February 11 due to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, while Hackman, aged 95, passed away eight days later due to heart disease. However, Dr. Josiah Child, the head of Cloudberry Health in New Mexico, mentioned to the Daily Mail that Arakawa contacted his office on February 12 to set up an appointment.
Child said the appointment was unrelated to pulmonary issues, which are common in hantavirus patients.
READ: Gene Hackman Died of Heart Disease, While Wife Betsy Arakawa Had Hantavirus
Reports indicate that a few weeks before her demise, Arakawa got in touch with Child’s office to arrange a heart scan for Hackman. Child mentioned that Arakawa had also fixed an appointment for herself; nevertheless, she called to cancel two days before, citing Hackman’s ill health.
“She phoned again on the morning of February 12 and conversed with one of our physicians, who advised her to come in that afternoon. We scheduled her appointment, but she failed to arrive. She displayed no signs of respiratory distress. The appointment was not related to hantavirus. Despite trying to reach out to her a couple of times, we received no response,” the doctor informed the Daily Mail.
Arakawa and Hackman were found dead at their Santa Fe home on February 27. Arakawa was discovered on the bathroom floor, in the same room where pills were scattered on the countertop. Hackman was in the mud room with sunglasses at his side. Zenna, the couple’s kelpie mix, was found dead in a kennel in a bathroom closet near Arakawa’s body. Their two other dogs were found alive on the property.
Heather Jarrell, Office of the Medical Examiner’s Chief Medical Examiner, said Arakawa tested positive for the hantavirus, a rare infectious disease primarily from deer mice. Alzheimer’s disease was listed as a contributing factor in Hackman’s death.
Jarrell said that Arakawa sent an email on February 11 before going to a pet store, pharmacy, and grocery store. Data suggested that was the last day she was known to be alive, according to Jarrell.
Hackman’s pacemaker showed the last date of activity as February 18.
Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths were ruled natural.
Early on, police debunked rumors of carbon monoxide poisoning, noting there was no evidence of a gas leak. They also noted that there were no signs of forced entry despite the front door being open.
Roughly three to four cases of hantavirus are reported annually. In the southwest, the virus is deadly in 38 to 50 percent of cases.
[Feature Photo: AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File]
