Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s Death Timeline Gets New Details With Final Phone Calls Surfacing

Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, had passed away a week before her Oscar-winner husband. New evidence reveals an updated timeline of her death. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 18, 2025 | 03:29 PM GMT | 5.5K

CC: Getty Images

Trigger Warning: Mention of Death.

Following the fresh pieces of evidence, the troubling timeline regarding the deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, has been re-dated. Authorities have confirmed the new date of Arakawa's death.

In an appearance on Good Morning America, Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed that the official date of death for Arakawa has changed now from February 11 to February 12. Mendoza disclosed that the 65-year-old pianist had called her doctor on February 12.

As Mendoza reports, the call had implied that Arakawa had been in search of medical consultation, meaning she might have been ill. He said, "That would indicate to me that she was seeking medical advice or help and may have not been feeling well."

On February 12, Arakawa reached out to a healthcare concierge company in New Mexico called Cloudberry to enquire about 'esoteric treatment' as per ABC News. The company revealed that she did not suffer from any respiratory diseases.

When she did not appear at her scheduled appointment, Cloudberry tried to contact her twice but got no answer. "Mrs. Hackman didn't die on Feb. 11 because she called my clinic on Feb. 12," Dr. Josiah Child of Cloudberry revealed to the Daily Mail. He added, "She'd called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband."

Authorities initially reported that a disease of rare occurrence spread through rodents, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, caused her death. She was last seen on February 11 when she picked up a prescription. Nothing much about the couple's demise was revealed to date, except that they have found signs of mummification in the corpse of the late pianist.

TMZ reported that authorities found "bloating in her face and mummification in her hands and feet." She was found dead on her bathroom floor with pills scattered around her.

Gene Hackman, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for quite some time, passed away on February 18, a week after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died. The corpses of the couple were discovered on February 26 at their residence. Hackman is survived by three of his children — Christopher, 65, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie, 58.