Following Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa’s tragic deaths, experts have shared the sad reason it likely took so long for the couple to be found after their passing.
Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died just seven days apart before being found in their New Mexico home a week later. And now, it has been reported that the Superman actor, 95, likely didn’t realise his wife of over 30 years had passed away before his own death, which is why their bodies remained in the home for so long before being found.
The couple were both found dead at their $3.8million home on February 26, alongside their dog, Zinna. It was confirmed last week that Betsy, 65, died on February 11 from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome – a rat-borne disease – on February 11 before Gene died around February 18. Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden has now explained a potential reason as to why the couple weren’t found for so long, detailing, “I think what [happened] here is he didn’t realize it and … didn’t understand that she was dead. He didn’t understand that he needed to call 911.”
While Gene’s cause of death is stated as heart disease, his advanced Alzheimer’s is also cited as a contributing factor. And continuing his analysis, Dr. Baden told Fox news: “It sounded like he kind of wandered around, was able to drink water from… [the] kitchen sink or even get some food out of the refrigerator… [he] probably couldn’t cook anything but could eat bread or something if he was hungry.”
Medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel added to the outlet: ‘If he was incapable of calling 911, and getting her seen, and just sat there for a week, then he either went into a state of great despondency or was somehow incapacitated himself. Or his Alzheimer’s was so severe that he was incapable of even noticing what was going on”.
While suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s, Gene was being looked after by his wife in the time prior to their tragic deaths – with a friend saying that the award-winning actor would have died “long ago” if Betsy wasn’t there to look after him.
Just two days before Arakawa’s presumed date of passing, she had collected Zinna from the vets after a medical procedure had been carried out, and emailed her massage therapist before heading out to go shopping around midday.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said on Friday that authorities are still continuing their investigation to close a few more “loopholes,” and they will take a closer look at Gene and Betsy’s cellphones in order to do so. They are also awaiting necropsy results to help determine how their dog Zinna died.
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