Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa Hackman of death were revealed on Friday by Sante Fe, New Mexico officials, but the Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed that the investigation into the case remains in progress.
During a press conference held more than a week after the couple’s bodies at their home on February 26, the medical researcher, Dr. Heather Jarrell, announced that the cause of Gene’s death was a cardiovascular disease of hypertensive atherosclerosis, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor. She confirmed that Betsy had died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a disease transmitted from animals to humans that is commonly found in rodents.
Jarrell said it was “reasonable to conclude” that Betsy, 65, died on February 11, while Gene, 95, was probably alone at home for about a week, until her death around February 18, which was the last time the activity was recorded on his heart stimulator.
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While Mendoza said he was thinking that “many questions have been answered,” he said that the authorities would continue to investigate because they were waiting for Hackmans mobile phone files as well as the results of a necropsy which takes place on the dog of the Zinna couple, which was also found dead in the house.
“We consider this to be an open investigation until we fill the gaps in mobile phones, until we finish the autopsy results of the canine and the other loose extremities that we must attach,” he said at the press conference.
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa Hackman of death were revealed, but the Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed that the investigation was underway. (Ron Galella Collection / Ron Galella via Getty Images)
“But, you know, I think we are quite close to the calendar and with the information provided by Dr. Jarrell,” added Mendoza.
The detectives listed two mobile phones among the items they took from the house, according to the inventory of the search mandates obtained by Fox News Digital.
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During the press conference, Mendoza said he thought it was “very improbable” that mobile phone files would reveal anything other than the authorities had already established concerning the death calendar.
Mendoza also confirmed that there was no evidence that Gene had communicated with anyone who was alive for a week in the house after the death of Betsy.
“I don’t know if he has used mobile phones or technology or emails, there is no indication of this,” he told journalists. “So, at the moment, there is no activity of Mr. Hackman.”
Mendoza said investigators expect mobile phone recordings and the results of a necropsy conducted on the couple’s dog, which was also found dead. (Derek trembled for Fox News Digital)
Mendoza also provided a calendar for Betsy’s activities and communications before February 11, the last day she was known to be alive.
During the investigation, the police discovered that Betsy had picked up Zinna at the Gruda veterinary hospital in Santa Fe on February 9. The authorities previously revealed that Zinna had been found died in a box which was in a cupboard about 10 to 15 “walk from the place where the Betsy body was found on the bathroom.
“There was a procedure that was done with the dog that can explain why the dog was in a box,” said Mendoza.
The other couple’s surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita, were found on the property. According to the Affidavit, “one of the healthy dogs was initially observed near the deceased woman (inside the bathroom) and the other healthy dog was observed outside the residence.”
Authorities think Betsy died a week before Gene’s death. (Getty Images)
While detailing the chronology of Betsy movements, Mendoza said that detectives had discovered email communications between the concert pianist and his massage therapist from 11:21 on February 11.
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“Let’s go in the afternoon, Ms. Arakawa was at the farmer’s market between 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.,” said Mendoza. From there, the surveillance video captured Betsy at the local CVS pharmacy around 4:20 p.m.
Many emails received on February 11 have remained not open to his computer.
“There was no additional outgoing communication of her, or known activity, after February 11, 2025,” said Mendoza, adding that “mobile phones and mobile phone data are pending”.
During the press conference, Jarrell explained that the Hantavirus is characterized by “pseudo-Grippal symptoms made up of fever, muscle pains, coughing, sometimes vomiting and diarrhea which can evolve towards shortness of breath and heart failure and heart failure”.
“I don’t know when she started feeling sick,” said Jarrell about Betsy. “And these are just things I don’t know that I will never have the answers. But I think that to come back to this initial period, about 3 to 6 days of evil feeling badly and then succumbing fairly quickly after the liquid begins to accumulate in the lungs.”
Mendoza was asked if he was known if Betsy had communicated with her family or friends that she felt bad before her death.
“Once again, we cross some of the communications, and I think that mobile phones can have indications before the 11th,” he said. “But from that moment, I have no information that she indicates that she felt sick during a communication.”
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The hackmans had three dogs, two of which survived. (Animal Rescue, Inc.)
At the start of the press conference, Mendoza said Zinna had been taken to the veterinary diagnostic services of the New Mexico agriculture department for necropsy.
When asked if he was likely that Zinna died due to famine or dehydration since she was bet, Dr. Erin Phipps, veterinarian of the New Mexico State at the Ministry of Health of New Mexico, said: “I don’t think we know the answer to this.”
“However, given the deadlines presented, there is a possibility,” she added.
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Phipps also clarified that Zinna had not died of Hantavirus because she said that dogs did not fall ill from the disease.
The detectives initially described the death of the couple as “of a nature sufficiently suspected to require in -depth research and investigation”. (Getty Images)
She explained that the state had confirmed one and seven cases of rare infection in humans each year, ending in 2024.
“We have identified 136 infections in the past 50 years in the residents of the New Mexico, including five in the County of Santa Fe,” said Phipps. “This is a serious illness. Forty-two percent of these infections here in New Mexico were fatal.”
The detectives initially described the death of the couple as “sufficiently suspected likely to require in -depth research and investigation”, according to an affidavit of the search mandate obtained by Fox News Digital.
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Tracy Wright of Fox News Digital and Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this report.
