Gene Hackman's property overrun with dead rodents and feces

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Officials have revealed that Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s New Mexico home was riddled with rodent infestation before their deaths.

According to a report obtained by TMZ, the New Mexico Department of Public Health uncovered dead rodents, droppings and nests in multiple buildings at the couple’s sprawling home.

The outlet reports that investigators uncovered “rodent feces in three garages, two casitas, and three sheds on their property. A live rodent, a dead rodent, and a rodent nest were found in the three detached garages.”

They also found evidence of rodents in two vehicles on the property, including “nests, droppings, and sightings of the pests.”

Traps that were discovered around the residence were indication that Arakawa or groundskeepers knew “the infestation had been ongoing.”

Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies were discovered on Feb. 26 after a maintenance worker called police.

“I think we just found two, one deceased person inside the house,” the caller said on the recording first obtained by TMZ. “I’m the caretaker for the subdivision.”

Hackman’s body was found in what was “believed to be a mud room … wearing grey sweat pants, a blue in colour long-sleeve T-shirt, brown slippers, and walking cane.”

His wife, 65-year-old Arakawa, was discovered in a bathroom. 

In a press conference last month, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Heather Jarrell, said the cause of death for Arakawa, who died a week before her husband, was hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which spreads from the droppings and saliva of rodents.

Jarrell said the symptoms consist of fever, muscle aches, cough, vomiting and diarrhea that can progress into heart or lung failure and comes anywhere from one to eight weeks after exposure to excrement from “a particular mouse species.”

The cause of death for Hackman, who was 95, was listed as a result of severe heart disease with advanced Alzheimer’s disease playing a “significant” contributing factor.

Jarrell went on to add that “based on the circumstances it is reasonable to conclude that Ms. Hackman passed away first.”

She added that it was conceivable that Hackman did not know his wife had died inside their home.

“It’s quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Jarrell said.

Earlier this month, public health officials in California confirmed that three people in that state also died from hantavirus.

A doctor who oversees a clinic that was supposed to treat Arakawa on the day she died says she may not have been aware of how ill she was before succumbing to the disease.

Dr. Josiah Child told Fox News that the classical pianist had booked an appointment to see a doctor on the 12th, but cancelled her consultation because “her husband was ill.”

“(Arakawa) had actually made an appointment to have an initial visit with one of our doctors on the 12th,” Child said. “She called on the 10th saying that her husband was ill or wanted to take care of her husband. She wanted to cancel that appointment. She called back on the 12th (looking for) advice. She said, ‘I have some congestion and I just want some advice. What can I do for it?’ She had no shortness of breath or chest pain or fever or anything like that. Our receptionist spoke to the doctor and the doctor said, ‘Well, I’ve never met her. We have to have an initial appointment.’” 

Arakawa was pencilled in to see a doctor at 1 p.m. on the 12th, but she never showed up and calls to her cellphone went unanswered.

Child speculated that Arakawa may not have known how rapidly her sickness was spreading.

“I don’t know whether it was because she was focusing on her husband or because it was a rapidly progressive disease, or she was just one of those people that didn’t really feel a lot of discomfort. No one will ever know,” he said. “But for some reason she didn’t recognize that she was becoming very ill with the second phase of hantavirus, which invades the lungs.” 

mdaniell@postmedia.com