Cops make shock admission in Hackman deaths
Police have made a surprise revelation over the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, as a judge handed down a decision over distressing photographs of the tragic pair.
Police in New Mexico have admitted that Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa was still alive a full 24 hours after authorities initially believed she had died.
It came as a judge ruled that photos showing the mummified bodies of the couple will be blocked from public view, after the actor’s estate asked for a restraining order on the release of the images.
A representative of the Hackman estate had sued to keep the photos out of the public eye, citing the 95-year-old Oscar winner’s famously private lifestyle.
The First Judicial Court in Santa Fe County sided with the estate and ruled that the photos would be kept under wraps for the time being, the New York Post reports.
Mystery over the pair’s deaths continue to deepen, with police confirming that mobile phone records showed that Ms Arakawa made multiple calls to a Santa Fe medical centre on February 12.
The calls came 24 hours after she was believed to have died on February 11, The Sun reports.
Authorities have said that Ms Arakawa, 65, likely died of the rare, rodent-borne illness hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the bathroom of their sprawling Santa Fe mansion.
Hackman, who had been suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease, appeared to have remained alive in the house for a full week before dying of heart complications in the entryway.
“We can now confirm that Mrs Hackman’s phone was utilised on the morning of February 12 to call a medical centre in Santa Fe, Cloudberry Health,” authorities told Fox News.
“A total of three calls were made that morning, all to the medical centre.
“One incoming call was made to Mrs. Hackman from the same medical centre that afternoon.
DOCTOR CLAIMS HACKMAN’S WIFE CALLED HIM
The confirmation from authorities came after Dr Josiah Child, who runs Cloudberry Health in New Mexico, sensationally claimed that Ms Arakawa had called him the day after police say she died.
“Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12,” Dr Child told the Daily Mail.
“She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband.”
Dr Child claimed that Ms Arakawa had called up to schedule an appointment for February 12 for an issue unrelated to respiratory problems.
“She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her,” he added, according to the New York Post.
Two days before she was due to see him, Ms Arakawa cancelled her appointment, saying her husband was feeling unwell.
“She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon,” he told the outlet.
“We made her an appointment but she never showed up. She did not show any symptoms of respiratory distress. The appointment wasn’t for anything related to hantavirus. We tried calling her a couple of times with no reply.”
Ms Arakawa had an email conversation on the morning of February 11 before heading out to a local grocery store, a pharmacy and a pet store, according to Chief Medical Investigator Dr Heather Jarrell.
“Based on the circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that [Betsy] passed away first, with February 11 being the last time that she was known to be alive,” Dr Jarrell added.
February 18 was the last day activity was recorded on Hackman’s pacemaker. The device noted an “abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation.”
A post-mortem found no food in his stomach.
One of their three dogs, which was in a crate recovering from surgery, died of starvation and dehydration, a state necropsy report has revealed.
MYSTERY OF DOG DEATH EXPLAINED
Hackman and Ms Arakawa’s dog Zinna — found dead alongside the couple in February – likely died of starvation and dehydration, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report, which came from the state Department of Agriculture’s veterinary lab, said the partial mummification of the dog could have obscured changed in organs, but there was no evidence of poisoning, disease or trauma that could have led to death.
Inside the dog’s stomach was very little aside from small amounts of hair and bile.
The kelpie mix was just one of the couple’s three dogs. Its body was discovered in a crate in a bathroom closet near Ms Arakawa’s body. The couple’s two other dogs survived.
The two surviving dogs allegedly helped first responders find the actor’s dead body after they searched his home for more than 30 minutes, Fire Chief Brian Moya told USA Today earlier this month.
More Coverage
Originally published as Cops make shock admission in Hackman deaths