ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday released an extensive investigative report detailing some of the latest emails and internet searches conducted by Gene Hackman’s wife in the days leading up to her death, indicating she was looking online for information about flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques.
Betsy Arakawa died in February from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rodent-borne illness that can cause a range of symptoms including flu-like illness, headaches, dizziness and severe breathing difficulty, researchers have said. It is believed that Gene Hackman died about a week later from heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
The partially mummified remains of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found at their Santa Fe home on February 26, when maintenance workers and security personnel arrived at the house and alerted police.
According to the report released on Tuesday, a review of Arakawa’s open browser tabs on February 8 and the morning of February 12 indicated she was actively researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms. The searches included questions about whether COVID could cause dizziness or nosebleeds.
She had also mentioned in an email to her massage therapist that Hackman had woken up on February 11 with flu- or cold-like symptoms, but a COVID test was negative and she would need to reschedule her appointment for the next day “out of caution.”
Arakawa’s last search was the morning of February 12 for a healthcare provider in Santa Fe.
Investigators also reviewed the Hackman home phone call log, along with voicemails and security videos from stores Arakawa had visited on February 11.
Authorities are also expected to release additional redacted footage from police body-worn cameras from inside the home as they try to reconstruct what happened to the couple. The written report describes how they moved through the rooms of the house, finding nothing out of the ordinary and no signs of forced entry.
The materials were being released under a recent court order that all representations of the deceased couple be blocked. A prior court order had prohibited disseminating photos, videos and documents from the investigation.
Hackman’s estate and family members had sought to keep the records sealed to protect the family’s constitutional right to privacy.
A report obtained from the New Mexico Department of Health showed that an environmental assessment of Hackman’s property found rodent droppings in several outbuildings, but not inside living areas. A live rodent, a dead rodent and a rodent nest were found in three separate garages.
Nestled among pine-nut and juniper hills overlooking Santa Fe, Hackman’s home is not unlike others in the area, and mice are common in the surrounding landscape.
One of the couple’s three dogs was also found dead in a crate in a bathroom cabinet near Arakawa, while the other two dogs were found alive. A state veterinary laboratory attributed the dog’s death to dehydration and starvation.
Estate attorney Kurt Sommer argued during a hearing last month that the couple had made great efforts to stay out of the public eye during their lives and that the right to control the use of their names and imagery should extend to their estate after death.
Estate representative Julia Peters also emphasized the potentially disturbing nature of photographs and videos in the investigation and the potential for their dissemination by the media.
The Associated Press, CBS News, and CBS Studios weighed in, stating in court filings that they would not publish images of the couple’s bodies and would blur images to conceal them from other records.
