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NEW MEXICO - Days before she and her husband, actor Gene Hackman, died at their home, Ms Betsy Arakawa repeatedly searched online about flu- and Covid-19-like symptoms, according to records released on April 15 by New Mexico authorities.
The records – including witness interviews, photographs of the scene and police body camera footage – provided some new insights into the final days of the couple at their home near Santa Fe in February.
After his wife’s death, Hackman, 95, lived alone in the home for nearly a week before dying of heart disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor.
Ms Arakawa, 65, died from hantavirus, which is contracted through the exposure to excrement from rodents and can cause flulike symptoms before progressing to shortness of breath as well as cardiac and lung failure.
Police records released in the case on April 15 included Arakawa’s Google searches a couple of days before her death, including “Can Covid cause dizziness?” and “Flu and nosebleeds” on Feb 10.
The next day, she e-mailed her massage therapist to cancel an appointment, writing that her husband woke up that morning with “flu/cold-like symptoms” but had tested negative for Covid-19. That day, she ordered oxygen canisters from Amazon for “respiratory support.”
The couple’s family had asked a court in New Mexico to prevent authorities from releasing records related to their death, citing a desire for privacy. Hackman, known for his roles in “The French Connection” and “Hoosiers,” and Ms Arakawa had lived for many years in a secluded neighbourhood east of Santa Fe, at the top of a large hill.
They were frequently described as reclusive and had grown even more isolated in recent years, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some news organisations opposed the family’s request, and a judge ordered that officials could release photographs and body camera footage as long as the couple’s bodies were not visible.
Multiple officers’ body camera footage that was released blurs out their bodies.
English (US)