Gene Hackman’s Wife Died Of Hantavirus, While Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease And Alzheimer’s
The autopsies for Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Hackman were just announced by New Mexico authorities, and it turns out that Betsy Hackman died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome around February 11th. Hantavirus is contracted when someone comes in contact with an infected rodent’s feces or urine, but it doesn’t spread between humans. Because Hantavirus can initially give people common flu-like symptoms, it often goes untreated but will lead to death in 38-50% of victims, usually due to respiratory failure or shock.
With regard to Gene Hackman, the medical examiner announced that he died of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease being a major contributing factor. Pacemaker activity shows that he likely died around February 18th, one week after his wife, and because of his Alzheimer’s, it’s believed that he didn’t realize what was going on with his wife, even though she died in the house several days earlier.
Finally, the dog who was found dead in the crate had undergone a medical procedure on February 9th, and it was likely left in the crate while it was recovering from that procedure. Because Betsy Hackman died suddenly and Gene Hackman was suffering from severe Alzheimer’s before he died, the dog sadly died due to it being contained in the crate with no food or water.
Here’s a recording of the Santa Fe Sheriff’s press conference that just ended, which goes over all of the above information in more detail. For those wondering, Hantavirus is extremely rare, and over the last five years, there were less than seven infections per year in New Mexico. Scrub forward to about the 31-minute mark for the beginning of the press conference:
