Mystery around Gene Hackman’s death deepens as wife Betsy Arakawa’s doctor claims she called him after police say she died
The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, continue to be shrouded in mystery as a Santa Fe doctor has sensationally claimed Arakawa called him the day after police say she died.
Dr. Josiah Child, who runs Cloudberry Health in New Mexico, has claimed the former classical pianist, 65, contacted his clinic on February 12 — one day after the medical examiner’s conclusion that she died on February 11.
“Mrs. Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12,” Child told the Daily Mail.
“She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband.”
Child claimed Arakawa had called to schedule an appointment for February 12 for an issue unrelated to respiratory problems.
“She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her,” he added.
Two days before she was due to see him, Arakawa canceled her appointment, saying her husband — two-time Oscar winner Hackman — was feeling unwell.
“She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon,” he told the outlet.
“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.”
Child’s revelation directly contradicts the medical examiner’s conclusion, which stated that Arakawa died on or around Feb. 11 through her activity and communication.
Arakawa had an email conversation on the morning of Feb. 11 before heading out to a local grocery store, a pharmacy and a pet store, according to Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Heather Jarrell.
She returned to the couple’s gated community around 5:15 p.m., garage clicker data showed.
“Based on the circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that [Betsy] passed away first, with Feb. 11 being the last time that she was known to be alive,” Jarrell added.
According to the Santa Fe medical examiner, Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare rat-borne respiratory disease.
Hackman, for his part, died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor.
Feb. 18 was the last day activity was recorded on Gene’s pacemaker. The device noted an “abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation.”
A post-mortem found no food in his stomach.
One of their three dogs, which was in a crate recovering from surgery, died of starvation and dehydration, a state necropsy report has revealed.
