Legendary were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home last month, prompting investigating officials to call their deaths “suspicious.”
On Friday, officials revealed that the both but with differing causes. Arakawa died from and Hackman, who was in poor health, from heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease about a week later.
The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found on Feb. 26, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. One of their dogs was also found dead.
Hackman was an Oscar-winning actor who was known for numerous roles, including in “The French Connection,” “The Conversation” and “Unforgiven.” .
Here is what we know about their deaths.
How did they die?
Arakawa died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, said at a news conference Friday. Hantavirus is a rare disease that is spread by rodents and can cause serious illness and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hackman likely died a week after Arakawa, who was last known to be alive on Feb. 11, according to a timeline presented Friday by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
His cause of death was determined to be “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor,” Jarrell said, based on autopsy findings. He tested negative for hantavirus.
Jarrell said it is likely Hackman died around Feb. 18 — the day after his pacemaker last recorded an “event.”
Officials had said no signs of foul play were apparent, and an initial autopsy found no external trauma to either Hackman or Arakawa.
The couple also tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning, and authorities said Tuesday there were
How were they found?
Hackman and Arakawa were found after someone called 911 to report the bodies. Mendoza said last week the couple had been dead “quite a while” when they were found.
A maintenance worker was at the residence that day to do work and grew concerned after the couple did not answer the door. The worker contacted a security officer in the subdivision, who went to the house and discovered the couple inside, Mendoza said.
A man who described himself as a caretaker of the subdivision called 911 to report the bodies, according to the call audio. He said that the door was locked and that he could not go inside, but that he saw them through the window and they were not moving.
Two maintenance workers said they found the couple’s front door ajar when they went to check on the residence, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.
Santa Fe County deputies “did not observe any signs of forced entry into the home,” according to the affidavit.
Where were they found?
Deputies found Arakawa’s body on the floor of a bathroom, according to the affidavit. A space heater was near her head, and an opened bottle of prescription pills was on the counter with pills “scattered on the counter-top.”
Jerell said Friday that the pills were a thyroid medication that was being taken as directed and are not considered a contributing factor in Arakawa’s death.
The deputies suspected “the heater could have fallen in the event the female abruptly fell to the ground.”
They then found the dead dog about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa, in a closet in the bathroom.
Mendoza said Friday that the dead dog, named Xena, is undergoing a necropsy and results are pending. Officials said dogs don’t get sick from hantavirus so, given the timeline of Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths, it’s possible Xena died from starvation.
