Actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes with approximately one week apart

The Oscar winning actor, Gene Hackman, died of natural causes approximately one week after his wife Betsy Arakawa, who died after contracting a weird virus, says a medical researcher from New Mexico.

The 95 -year -old Oscar -winning actor died at his home in Santa Fe of coronary artery disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor.

Mrs. Arakawa, 65, died in the same house of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a rare but serious respiratory disease caused by exposure to excrement of infected rodents.

The authorities believe that she died about seven days before her husband. His cause of death was listed as natural. In a wide race, Hackman won two academy awards for the French connection and without forgiveness.

Mrs. Arakawa is likely to die first on February 11, Dr. Heather Jarrell, from the New Mexico Medical Researcher Office, a press conference said on Friday.

She said it was “reasonable to conclude” that Hackman died on February 18.

The last movements and correspondence of Mrs. Arakawa were on February 11, when she was seen going to a supermarket and returning home early in the afternoon.

Since Hackman was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, it is “very possible that she was not aware that she (her wife) had died,” said Dr. Jarrell.

She told journalists that “he was not aware of his normal daily functioning.”

He had “significant heart disease and, ultimately, that is what resulted in his death,” said Dr. Jarrell.

He had not eaten anything recently, but did not show indications of dehydration, he added.

“It is very possible that I don’t know that she had died.”

HPS is transmitted through contact with rodent, urine or saliva droppings, often when contaminated dust is inhaled.

At the press conference, the public health veterinarian of New Mexico, Erin Phipps, emphasized that Hantavirus infections are extremely rare.

He pointed out that 136 cases had been reported in the state in the last 50 years, and 42% resulted in deaths.

Mrs. Phipps said that evidence of rodent activity was found in some buildings on the property, although the risk within the main house was considered “low.”

Researchers are trying to determine how Mrs. Arakawa contracted the disease. Hackman tried negative for Hantavirus.

While it is rare, the disease can lead to respiratory failure in some cases.

The couple, who had been married for more than 30 years, was found in their home after neighborhood security carried out a well -being control and saw their bodies on the ground through the window.

The couple’s bodies were discovered in advanced stages of decomposition.

Hackman’s body was in a sideroom next to the kitchen, with a cane and a pair of sunglasses nearby, according to a sworn statement of search warrant.

Mrs. Arakawa’s body was found in the bathroom, with scattered pills near her.

Sheriff’s deputies found medications for the treatment of thyroid and arterial pressure, together with the Tylenol analgesic, according to an inventory of the Court.

Citing the privacy laws, the authorities did not reveal who had received the medicines.

One of the three dogs of the couple was also found dead inside a box near Mrs. Arakawa, while the other two dogs were alive.

The authorities say that the cause of death for the dog has not been determined.

Initial investigations did not find forced entry signs or dirty game at their home of $ 3.8 million (£ 3 million). Carbon monoxide poisoning tests were negative, and significant gas leaks were detected.

Hackman is survived by three adult children in their previous marriage.

Hackman met Mrs. Arakawa when she worked part -time in a California gym in the mid -1980s, the New York Times previously reported.

He won the best actor Oscar for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 Thriller of William Friedkin, The French Connection, and another for the best cast actor for playing Little Bill Daggett in the western film of Clint Eastwood Unforgiven in 1992.

A relative newcomer to Hollywood, the advance of Hackman arrived in his thirty years, when he was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde 1967, in front of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, and again because I never sang for my father in 1970.

Both films were recognized in the category of secondary actors. He was also nominated for the best leading actor in 1988 for playing the FBI agent in Mississippi Burning.

He played more than 100 papers during his career, including Supervillano Lex Luthor in Superman’s films, starring Christopher Reeve, in the seventies and eighties.

Hackman presented to many other heavyweights of Hollywood, including Pacino in Scarecrow and Gene Wilder of 1973 in the young Frankenstein of 1974.

His last appearance on the big screen occurred as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004, after which he left Hollywood for a quieter life in New Mexico.