A state assessment found rodents on the sprawling Santa Fe, New Mexico, property of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, but concluded their main quarters had not been infested.
The inspection followed the deaths in February of Hackman, 95, from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and Arakawa, 65, from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which spreads to humans only by contact with rodents or their urine and droppings.
State medical examiners said Alzheimer’s disease contributed to Hackman’s death on Feb. 18. Arakawa most likely died Feb. 12.
The state Health Department’s “homesite environmental assessment,” based on a March 5 sweep of the home, was obtained through the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.
Among the trove of documents and body camera video Santa Fe authorities released Tuesday is a Feb. 11 email from Arakawa to her masseuse to cancel an appointment because Hackman was sick.
Arakawa wrote in the email that Hackman “woke up today with flu/cold-like symptoms, did a COVID test, negative. But out of an abundance of caution, I should cancel.”
Investigators noted in their reports that Arakawa made a trip to a grocery store and a local pet food store the same day, which may have been the last time she was seen alive in public.
Detectives reported viewing security video of both visits to confirm her outing. The owner of the pet food store confirmed to investigators that Arakawa was there on Feb. 11 and that she went to the store once or twice a week to fulfill a strict diet for her dogs that included “gently cooked rabbit,” according to the documents released Tuesday.
Hackman’s adult daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie Hackman, told investigators that their father was in decline. They said that on Jan. 30, 2024, they had to remind him three times that it was his birthday, according to the documents.
The two also said Hackman was so unfamiliar with contemporary technology that he used only landlines for phone calls and avoided cellphones.
The daughters said the couple was very private and would not hire housekeepers, though sheriff’s deputies reported the main residence was tidy.
The daughters said that they had not seen rodents at the home but tat they had seen mouse traps. State health inspectors also noted the presence of rodent traps in their March 5 inspection of Hackman’s and Arakawa’s residence.
The inspectors found live rodents, dead rodents and rodent feces in a detached garage and rodent feces in the property’s two guest houses and in its detached storage facilities, according to the state report on the inspection.
They also found a rodent nest, a live rodent and a dead rodent among working vehicles, abandoned vehicles or farm machinery on the property, the report said.
Report author Elizabeth VinHatton of the state Health Department wrote that all three of the property’s garages and both of its houses had signs of rodent activity and that its sheds were accessible to rodents.
She also wrote: “Main dwelling clean with no signs of rodent activity.”
VinHatton estimated the size of the main house is 8,000 to 9,000 square feet. A Redfin listing for the address says the four-bedroom home is 8,761 square feet in size and stands on a 6-acre parcel.
The main residence is where body camera video from Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office deputies captured the scene upon their arrival, with the bodies of Hackman and Arakawa blurred.
Video shows one of the couple’s three dogs, described by deputies as a German shepherd, staying near Arakawa’s body.
“I also observed a large, brown in color German Shepard dog sitting approximately five feet away from the deceased female,” Deputy J.L. Thomas wrote in an incident report.
Nearby, another dog was found dead in a dog crate.
In a necropsy report made public as part of Tuesday’s release of documents and video, veterinary pathologist John Ragsdale concluded that if the dog was confined amid the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa — whose bodies were discovered Feb. 26, roughly eight days Hackman died — it may have died from lack of food and water.
Another of the couple’s dogs was running loose and had to be lured and trapped the day the bodies were found, according to the sheriff’s incident report.
It says Hackman’s family granted permission for a friend to take possession of the two surviving dogs.
The couple’s bodies were discovered when a contract maintenance worker concerned about Arakawa’s unusual silence went to the home and asked a security worker to help him look around. The maintenance worker soon discovered Arakawa’s body, and the security worker spotted Hackman’s, according to the account of Thomas, the deputy.
