The iconic Hollywood actor, best known for his roles in Bonnie and Clyde, Unforgiven, Crimson Tide, and The French Connection, was “in very poor health” before he died, the New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell said in a statement following an investigation into his passing. Medical examiners suggested that Betsy, whose cause of death was rare rodent-borne illness hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, had sadly died a week before her husband.
A new autopsy report has revealed the likely cause of Gene Hackman's beloved dog's death alongside himself and wife Betsy Arakawa in their New Mexico home, earlier last month. According to the report from the state Department of Agriculture’s veterinary lab, the dog which was an Australian kelpie mix named Zinfandel or "Zinna", died from dehydration and starvation.
Zinna, one of the couple's three dogs, was found when Hackman and Arakawa's bodies were discovered at their Santa Fe home Feb. 26. Authorities previously revealed that Zinna's body was discovered in a crate that was in a closet about "10 to 15" feet away from where Betsy's body was found on the floor of the bathroom. "There was a procedure that was done with the dog which may explain why the dog was in a crate," Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza explained during the news conference.
