The mystery around Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s deaths deepens once more as a doctor has claimed that Arakawa called him a day after police claim she had died.
It was announced that Arakawa died on 11 Feb
Following a long investigation around the deaths of both Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, Santa Fe medical examiner claimed that Arakawa died of hantavirus, a rare virus linked to rodents, on 11 February.
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Reports also said that Hackman died seven days later of heart failure likely combined with Alzheimer’s disease. Their dog, who was also found dead at the home, had died of starvation and dehydration.
One doctor claims otherwise
It may now be questioned whether the post-mortem report got Betsy Arakawa’s death date wrong, as Dr. Josiah Child, a former emergency care specialist who runs Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, now claims she called him a day after reports say she died.
He shared the story from his point of view
In speaking with The Daily Mail on Sunday 16 March, Dr. Child said, “Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12.”
“She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband. She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her. She made an appointment for herself for February 12. It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory,” he explained.
She called him two days later to cancel
According to Dr. Child, Arakawa called two days before her scheduled appointment to cancel it, citing that Hackman wasn’t feeling well.
He explained, “She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon. 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.”
Their deaths according to police reports
Police reports say that the couple were found dead at their Santa Fe home, each in a different room, with Arakawa having been found on the bathroom floor surrounded by scattered pills. Hackman was found in a separate utility room with his pacemaker having stopped on 18 February.
Post-mortem reports claimed that Arakawa died seven days before Hackman on 11 February. It was concluded that his Alzheimer’s likely meant that he had not realized that she had died.
Gene Hackman’s will was also recently revealed
The Hollywood actor’s will was also recently revealed but not without its surprises. Gene Hackman’s three adult children, son Christopher and daughters Leslie and Elizabeth, were bypassed in the will with everything going to Arakawa.
Arakawa’s assets were set to go to various charities should she and Hackman die within 90 days of each other. Hackman’s son, Christopher, is reported to have hired a solicitor experienced in legal disputes to figure out his stance on the will.
