Pathologist theorizes Gene Hackman or Betsy Arakawa may have died of a 'broken heart'
'Suddenly finding your loved one dead on the floor that can increase your adrenaline and that stimulates your heart to beat faster'
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As investigators work to try and solve the mystery surrounding the puzzling deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa last month, one pathologist is offering up the theory that one of them may have died of a broken heart.
Chief Medical Examiner James Gill, who is not working on the case, tells PEOPLE that one of the two may have died as a result of a “kind of a broken heart-type thing.”
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Pathologist theorizes Gene Hackman or Betsy Arakawa may have died of a 'broken heart' Back to video
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Gill, who works for the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, speculates that their deaths came close together after one of the two suddenly died, sending the other into an uncontrollable panic.
“From the initial kind of circumstances, it seems like he may have collapsed,” he says. “He’s got a history of heart disease. He’s got a pacemaker. So that would not be unusual. But the unusual part is that why then did she also collapse? Assuming she would’ve found him. Then you start wondering about: There is this thing where the stress of seeing someone die that could have triggered a natural death in her,” Gill says.
Gill went on to suggest that Hackman may have been the second to die after becoming overwhelmed with “stress” at finding Betsy collapsed.
Perhaps Gene “found her and was going out to get help or get his phone, and he then collapsed from the stress of that, too. Just as likely. He’s older, he’s got known heart disease. But the autopsy would certainly show if she had heart disease or cancer or what have you.”
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65 — who were married since 1991 — were found dead alongside one of their three dogs inside their sprawling home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, last month.
According to a search warrant affidavit, Hackman’s body was found in what was “believed to be a mud room … wearing gray sweat pants, a blue in colour long-sleeve T-shirt, brown slippers, and walking cane.”
Based on his positioning, police determined that Hackman had suffered a sudden fall.
His wife was discovered in a bathroom. An opened orange prescription bottle was observed on the countertop, and pills were strewn around it. A deceased Kelpie mix dog (which was originally misidentified as a German Shepherd) was located inside a “closed crate,” with two other dogs found alive on the property.
In its report, police said Arakawa’s body showed “obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mumification in both hands and feet.”
Both had been deceased “for quite a while.”
Two deaths happening in close proximity to one another has “been known to happen” as a result of “a broken heart-type thing,” the medical professional adds.
“Suddenly finding your loved one dead on the floor that can increase your adrenaline and that stimulates your heart to beat faster, and that can put your heart into an irregular rhythm,” he says.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Broken heart syndrome is a heart condition that’s often brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions.”
Gill says there have been instances where finding a loved one dead can lead someone “to take their own life, and that may be with pills or what have you.”
A toxicology report will be able to definitively answer if that was the case.
In an email to Postmedia, Chris Ramirez, a spokesperson for the New Mexico medical investigator’s office, said medical reports “generally take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to generate, which will include the cause of death.”
Last week, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Hackman’s pacemaker revealed his “last event” took place on Feb. 17 — more than a week before his body was found — and “both individuals tested negative for carbon monoxide.”
“According to the pathologist, I think that is a very good assumption that that was his last day of life,” Mendoza told reporters.
Mendoza and state fire, health and forensics officials have scheduled an afternoon news conference Friday to provide updates on the case.
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