The bodies of 95-year-old Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found at their home in New Mexico last month after neighbourhood security conducted a welfare check
Gene Hackman’s home was a dog poo-strewn “a mess” before his death, according to an insider. The 95-year-old star and his wife Betsy Arakawa, to whom he had been married for 34 years, were discovered deceased at their New Mexico, US, residence last month following a welfare check by neighbourhood security.
Betsy, aged 65, was found on the bathroom floor near a space heater, while Gene was discovered lifeless in a room adjacent to his kitchen. Their dog Zinna was also found dead, but their other two dogs, Bear and Nikita, were seen roaming around the 12-acre property.
The Sante Fe County Sheriff’s office confirmed the tragic news with a statement: “On February 26, 2025 at approximately 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, 95 and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased.”
Authorities later revealed that Betsy succumbed first to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a rare infectious disease. The Oscar-winning actor is believed to have passed away a week later, around February 18, due to heart disease. Medical experts have speculated that the Unforgiven star, who suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s, may not have been aware of his wife’s death.
The couple, who first crossed paths in the 1980s at a fitness centre where Betsy was working, led a low-key life and “didn’t want to be bothered”, neighbours spilled. Tucked away in a secluded gated community, their home was a mystery to other residents, with sightings of the pair being rare, reports the Mirror.
“They have a gate, and we have a gate, and we just have never even seen each other,” one neighbour told the New York Times. Echoing the sentiment, another local said: “He wanted to be quiet, he didn’t want to be bothered, and I don’t blame him.”
Gene once welcomed Architectural Digest into his abode back in 1990, offering a glimpse into their eclectic decor. “We bought a few things in Santa Fe. Other things came from auctions in New York, an antiques shop in Germany that Betsy and I found, and from Los Angeles. It’s a nice combination of soft southwestern pieces and hard-edged antiques,” he shared back then.
But whispers suggest that before the couple’s untimely demise, their $3.5 million ranch had fallen into disarray. A source told MailOnline: “The inside of the house was shocking. They didn’t have a housekeeper or a maid, so it had beautiful things – furniture and paintings – but there was dog poop on the floor. The inside of the house was bad. Nothing had been dusted. There was nothing in the fridge.”
Gene and Betsy didn’t have any kids together, but Gene was already a dad to son Christopher Allen, 65, and daughters Leslie Anne, 58, and Elizabeth Jean, 62, from an earlier relationship. After the couple passed away, Leslie sang praises for Betsy, crediting her with “keeping him alive” and highlighting their “wonderful marriage”.
Chatting with the media, Leslie shared: “They had a wonderful marriage. And I give credit to his wife, Betsy, for keeping him alive. [Betsy] took very, very good care of him and was always looking out for his health. So I am appreciative to her for that, and I’m very saddened by her passing.”
Gene left a whopping $80 million fortune to his Betsy, who was named successor trustee of his trust. Whether his three children will receive anything in his will remains a mystery, sparking whispers of a potential legal scrap over the cash.
Betsy’s own will points her assets towards a trust aimed at charity donations and settling medical bills. This follows reports of how content they were, with Betsy “very protective of him,” a friend revealed.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
