Sick, without mobile and unable to do anything in front of his wife’s body

We counted this Friday that Gene Hackman died a week after his wife, after the actor lost his only caregiver. The exact details may never be known, but the protagonist of French Connection, 95 years old and with an advanced Alzheimer’s, he was only for approximately a week after his wife and only caregiver died.

Before Gene Hackman stopped appearing in public in the city where he lived, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the neighbors used to see him in the golf course, in his van or walking his dogs. His wife, Betsy Arakawa, used to accompany him. She organized her golf games with her friends, supervised her diet due to the heart problems that had been affected for decades, diluted her wine with water with gas and typed and edited the novels he wrote by hand.

He also assumed, the role of the only caregiver while he endured the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s. Thirty years younger than him, he had surely planned to accompany him to the fine of his days, at his home. That is why it was even more shocking last Friday, when local authorities revealed new and dark details about the mystery of how both died last month in their four -room house, a mansion surrounded by trees at the end of the street without exit east of the city.

It was reported that both died from natural causes: he, for heart disease; She, for a rare viral infection. But it was the pianist, caretaker, lover and protector of the Oscar -winning actor who died first, perhaps on February 11, leaving only Hackman, 95, and with an advanced Alzheimer’s. It is believed that he died a week later, on February 18.

Their bodies, already in decomposition, were not discovered up to eight days later, when a maintenance worker called a security guard by not receiving an answer at the door. Emergency services found Arakawa, 65, on the floor of a bathroom, near a jar of medicines and scattered pills. Zinna, one of her three dogs, lay dead in a cage inside a closet. The body of the protagonist of Ard Mississippi It was found in a lobby, with slippers and a cane.

New Mexico’s Forensic Medical Chief declared on Friday that Alzheimer’s disease was a determining factor in the interpreter’s death. His wife had died of Hantavirus, an infection contracted by exposure to rodent droppings. The exact details of what happened at home during that week may never be known. Friends and neighbors pointed out that marriage had been held in their home since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemia.

But the chronology presented on Friday suggests the terrifying possibility that Gene Hackman, a veteran of the Navy and actor of meticulous precision and control, He has spent days next to his wife’s body without being able to ask for help, Trapped in his mansion, a terrifying gold cage in which to spend his last week next to his wife’s body.

A retirement in Santa Fe

Hackman arrived in Santa Fe in the late 80s, shortly after divorcing his first wife. He had already won an Oscar for French Connection. Later, he would receive another Academy Award as a cast actor at the 1992 Wétern Without forgiveness, de Clint Eastwood.

His father left the family when Hackman was 13 years old. His mother was a waitress. Hackman was attracted to the impressive natural landscape of Santa Fe and by the artists he inspired. Over time, he became one of them, dedicating the second half of his life to painting, sculpture and fiction writing, far from the mansions of Beverly Hills that many of his colleagues inhabit.

Betsy Arakawa was a classic pianist born in Hawaii. He met Hackman in Los Angeles, in a gym where he worked part -time. He had forgotten her entrance card and she refused to let him pass, according to Rodney Hatfield, their friend. They married in 1991. Friends pointed out that their relationship seemed natural, despite the age difference. “That difference never mattered because they seemed the same in many ways,” said a friend. “She had her own personality.” The life they built in Santa Fe was both lovely and surprisingly normal. Architeural Digest presented a house that they had designed and built on the outskirts of the city, with an elegant style of the southwest. Hackman joined the board of directors of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, one of the city’s cultural treasures. They also invested in a restaurant, Jinja, who exhibited Hackman’s paintings and appointed a Mai Tai cocktail in his honor.

Gene Hackman didn’t have a mobile phone

But others remember him as a man who fit the archetype of the “common man” who used to interpret in the cinema. An old Hackman friend cited by the American media says that Arakawa always acted as a kind of guardian of her husband. During his 20 -year friendship, he never spoke with Hackman on the phone or exchanged emails with him. They always organized meetings or golf games through Arakawa. Hackman was not interested in technology and, as far as there knows, he had no mobile. “He was very protective with him,” says Allin, adding that Hackman seemed happy that his wife took care of everything. Hackman used to say that he would have died “a long time ago” if it weren’t for his wife, who made sure he ate healthy. In January 2020, just before the pandemic, Allin saw Hackman for the last time on his 90th birthday in Islamorada, Florida. There, he observed how Arakawa mixed water with gas in his wine. “She really took care of him,” he assured The New York Times. But he also noticed that his friend was declining. Hackman had a tradition: every year Cooked Arakawa’s birthday dinner. In 2023, she arrived home waiting for her special food, but Hackman had forgotten her ritual. Like many, Hackman was held during the pandemic to protect his health. In recent years, the residents of Santa Fe Summit, the closed community where the deceased lived, said that the only thing that indicated their presence were the garbage cans they left on the sidewalk for the collection. On February 9, Arakawa picked up his Zinna dog from the veterinarian after an operation, which could explain why he was in a cage.

On February 11, hours before he died, he sent an email to his masseuse in the morning and went to the supermarket in the afternoon. He was also seen on video making a brief stop in a pharmacy. According to Sheriff Adan Mendoza, she wore a mask, as she used to avoid infections that could affect her husband. Sheriff Mendoza indicated that they found no evidence that the actor and his wife had a caregiver. Some neighbors were surprised that Hackman did not have assistance, given their age. But others believe that their loneliness was what they were looking for. They say people are going to Santa Fe to hide. And they succeeded.