Gene Hackman’s Wife Didn’t Die on the Date Police Claim, Says Local Doctor Who Was in Contact With Her

A New Mexico doctor is disputing the death date of Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa. In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail, Dr. Josiah Child, a former emergency care specialist who now runs Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe where the couple lived for over 30 years, told the publication on Sunday: “Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12.” 

A medical examiner previously reported she died on Feb. 11. The corner’s report lists their Betsy’s cause of death as hantavirus, a rare rat-borne respiratory disease, on February 11. 

Her Oscar-winning husband reportedly died of heart failure combined with Alzheimer’s disease a full week later, per the report. “She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband,” Dr. Child explained.

“She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her. She made an appointment for herself for February 12,” he added. “It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory.”

Dr. Child also added: “She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon. We made her an appointment but she never showed up. She did not show any symptoms of respiratory distress. The appointment wasn’t for anything related to hantavirus. We tried calling her a couple of times with no reply.”

Hackman’s pacemaker showed he died on February 18. A post-mortem examination revealed there was no food in his stomach, which investigators believe his Alzheimer’s meant he may not have realized his wife was dead. One of their three dogs died of reported dehydration.

Dr. Child added in his interview: “I am not a hantavirus expert but most patients who have that diagnosis die in hospital. It is surprising that Mrs Hackman spoke to my office on the phone on February 10 and again on February 12 and didn’t appear in respiratory distress.”