SANTA FE, N.M. (CNN) – New details are shedding more light on the deaths of legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, at their home in New Mexico.
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found dead in February at their Sante Fe home. A medical examiner’s report found Arakawa died first and Hackman died days later from heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
The report says Arakawa died from hantavirus, a rare disease usually caused by exposure to rodents or rodent feces.
CNN obtained public health records from New Mexico that show investigators discovered dead and live rodents as well as a rodent nest on Hackman’s property during a risk assessment for hantavirus. The rodents were not found in the main house but in some of the eight other structures on the property.
Hackman retired in the early 2000s after a decades-long acting career. He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later.
He met Arakawa, who was a classically trained pianist, in the mid-1980s. They soon moved in together and relocated to Santa Fe by the end of the decade, the Associated Press reports.
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