More information emerging indicates that Hollywood great, Gene Hackman, died following days of starvation a week after his wife died in their multi-million-dollar mansion in Santa Fe, America.
Relying on the results of the autopsies conducted on the bodies of Hackman and his wife Arakawa, authorities announced that Arakawa died from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome – a rat-borne disease – on February 11.
Hackman, one of the greatest actors to have graced Hollywood, died about a week later, around February 18.
The actor depended on his wife for sustenance, and was increasingly so in his last days as he suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
Examiners found no traces of food in the stomach of the legend, with a possibility that he had nothing to eat for the seven days his wife had been dead.
Dr. Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Investigator for the state, said the legendary actor lacked care in his final days.
His daughter, Leslie Anne Allen, 58, was seen for the first time over the weekend after the distressing revelations about her father’s final days.
Leslie, the youngest of Hackman’s three children, was out solo running errands in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Hackman gave birth to Leslie, Christopher, 65, and daughter Elizabeth, 63 through his ex-wife Faye Maltese.
His love for his craft and his zeal to climb to the pinnacle of his career took its toll on his young family.
Ultimately, his marriage to Maltese crashed and he married Betsy Arakawa a classical pianist shortly after.
Hackman was not present in the lives of his children and was completely detached from them until much later when Arakawa started putting pressure on him to reunite with them.
This paid off to some extent as he reestablished contact with his estranged children and became particularly close to the daughters.
Leslie was the closest to Hackman, but even at that, they went months without talking to each other even though she lived not too far away from him.
Upon learning about the tragic end of her father, Leslie had first suggested that he might have died with his wife of carbon monoxide poisoning. This theory was later disproved by the authorities after tests were carried out.
She said her ‘reclusive’ father had been ‘in good health’ before his death, revealing that ‘he liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week.’
She went on to say that his death, however, was ‘not terribly shocking because he was 95.’
She admitted that it had been a ‘few months’ since she had last seen or even heard from her father despite them being close.
‘We were close. I hadn’t talked to them for a couple of months, but everything was normal and everything was good,’ she shared.
Hackman won two Oscars and had Hollywood greats such as Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman as close friends, starring in numerous history-making roles.
Police confirmed that Hackman died from cardiovascular disease around February 18 – days after Betsy Arakawa, 65, succumbed to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) in their bathroom around February 11.
Officials suggested that Hackman – whose battle with advanced Alzheimer’s was confirmed publicly on Friday – tragically might not even have known his wife had died.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, which initially presents with flu-like symptoms, can progress rapidly, leading to breathing problems, low blood pressure, and organ failure.
It was speculated that Hackman may have wandered around the sprawling 9000 square foot home, lost and confused, for seven days – without his partner of three decades by his side to feed and care for him, or look after their three treasured dogs,
With his wife’s body decomposing in their bathroom, Hackman, went without food until his heart stopped beating.
The legend was found with his cane and sunglasses by his side in a room just off the kitchen following an apparent fall – hinting he may have been on his way out of the home before his weak heart gave in.
His pacemaker’s last recorded activity was on February 18 – but help would not arrive until over a week later.
One of their dogs, Zinna, who had been picked up by Arakawa from a veterinary hospital on February 9 – two days before her death – was found dead in a kennel in a bathroom closet about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa’s partially mummified remains.
A German Shepherd named Bear and a second dog named Nikita were found running around the 12 acre property – with a dog door allowing them access to food and water.
The dogs were discovered loose when the mummified bodies of Hackman and Arakawa were discovered on February 26 by two maintenance workers.
Dr. Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Investigator for the state of New Mexico, said their deaths had both been ruled as natural, and that no signs of internal or external trauma were found.
A CDC source told DailyMail.com that while the couple’s main home did not show any signs of rodent activity, some of the property’s outbuildings – including a garage and two casitas – had rodent droppings and other evidence of rodent activity.
She was caught on CVS surveillance footage shortly after the market, before then going to a local pet food store.
Her car was then seen on surveillance entering the gated community at 5:15pm on February 11.
Officials said that numerous emails went unopened on February 11, and that there was no further communication from her account after that day.
Detectives are still waiting on retrieving her full cell phone data, but said her last known activity was February 11.
Jarrell said: ‘Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer´s disease,’ Jarrell said.
‘He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.’
In his lifetime, Hackman played as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
The legend was nominated for Oscar five times and won for The French Connection in 1972 and Unforgiven two decades later.
Hackman met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist who grew up in Hawaii, when she was working part-time at a California gym in the mid-1980s.
They soon moved in together, and by the end of the decade had decamped to Santa Fe.
A naturally private man, Hackman was labelled a recluse as he remained out of the public eye for years on end following his retirement from the movie industry. He retired from acting in 2004.
Friends occasionally shared glimpses of his post-acting life, including social media shots of fishing expeditions – while paying tribute to his silver screen triumphs. He would also occasionally be spotted pedaling around Santa Fe on a bicycle.
The couple´s stucco, Pueblo-revival style home sits on a hill in a gated community at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains. Santa Fe is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.
Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood´s social circuit.
He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O´Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.
Hackman won his second Oscar for his role as a brutal sheriff in 1992’s Unforgiven.
