Gene Hackman, wife found dead

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The only explanation now is that it could have been a double suicide with the pills.

But how would we explain the dog?

I have a bad feeling about this. According to a story on the AP homepage,

"According to the search warrant affidavit, a maintenance worker called 911 after spotting the bodies at the couple’s Santa Fe home. He reported the home’s front door was open when he arrived to do routine work, a detective wrote.
{BUT}
In a recording of the 911 call, though, the worker said he could see Arakawa (Hackman's late wife) lying on the floor through a window but was unable to get inside.

HMMMMMMMM........

It wasn't till well over a week that the bodies were discovered. Possibly the one dog starved to death while the other two managed to hang on.

The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife remain a mystery as authorities confirm there were "no significant findings" of carbon monoxide or gas leaks at their New Mexico home.

The New Mexico Gas Co. conducted an investigation after the Oscar-winning actor; his wife, Betsy Arakawa; and their dog were found dead last week.

On Tuesday, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office released a brief update on the investigation, saying it had received the gas company's findings.

"Those results are not believed to be a factor in the deaths of Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa or their dog though the information was relayed to the Office of the Medical Investigator for consideration," the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office added that the gas company issued five red tags: one for a minuscule, nonlethal leak at one of the stove burners and four for code enforcement violations not involving leaks or carbon monoxide. The violations involved a water heater and gas log lighters installed in three fireplaces, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff said the information about the pills had been passed onto the medical investigator to help determine a cause of death.

Gene Hackman's wife died from a virus found in rodents, and the actor, who was in an “advanced state of Alzheimer’s," likely died a week later, officials in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said Friday.

Betsy Arakawa, 65, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and the Oscar-winning actor, who was in very poor health, died seven days later, said Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator for the New Mexico office of the medical investigator.

His cause of death was determined to be "hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributory factor," she said, based on autopsy findings.

“I can tell you that he was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s, and it’s quite possible he was not aware" his wife was dead in their home, Jarrell added

Hantaviruses are spread by rodents, primarily through droppings, urine and saliva and can cause serious illness and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The viruses can cause diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, aches and cough and can sometimes include vomiting and diarrhea that progress into shortness of breath and heart and lung failure, Jarrell said

Hackman tested negative for hantavirus, Jarrell said.

While Jarrell acknowledged "there is no reliable scientific method to accurately determine the exact time or date of death," she said it is likely Hackman died around Feb. 18 — the day after his pacemaker last recorded an "event”.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza offered a timeline of Arakawa's whereabouts in the lead-up to their deaths, and Jarrell noted that Arakawa was last known to be alive on Feb. 11.

Their bodies were found Feb. 26 in separate rooms of their 9,000-square-foot Santa Fe residence. Police were called after a maintenance worker discovered the bodies.

Hackman was found collapsed in a mudroom. Arakawa was found in a bathroom, where an open prescription pill bottle and scattered pills were found on the counter. One of their dogs was also found dead in a closet in a bathroom near Arakawa.

Officials initially said the dog that was found dead in a closet in the bathroom was a German shepherd. But the dead dog is now believed to be their Australian kelpie mix, Joey Padilla, owner of the Santa Fe Tails pet care facility which is involved in the surviving dogs’ care, said to The Associated Press.

Mendoza said Friday the dead dog, named Xena, is now undergoing a necropsy and results are pending. Officials said it is possible Xena died from starvation, given the timeline of Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths, and that dogs don’t get sick from hantavirus.