Actor Gene Hackman had not eaten for quite some time before his death, a final autopsy report has revealed, though heart disease was the ultimate cause.
The Office of the Medical Investigator in New Mexico found trace amounts of the chemical solvent acetone in Hackman’s system, which indicates prolonged fasting, noted the report obtained by The Associated Press.
Hackman’s official cause of death was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease a contributing factor, People reported.
The report detailed Hackman’s declining heart health, including the congestive heart failure, an aortic heart valve replacement and an irregular heartbeat. He’d had a pacemaker installed in April 2019.
His final autopsy report was released two months after maintenance workers discovered the bodies of Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa, and their dog in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26.
AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales
The bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa (inset) were found inside their New Mexico home on February 26. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales; Getty)
Preliminary findings indicated Arakawa, 65, had died at least a week before her husband, and pacemaker information indicated Hackman had been dead for at least nine days before they were found.
At first investigators were stymied, assuming they had both died of carbon monoxide poisoning, but subsequent testing showed that was not the case, and the final report showed less than 5% saturation of the deadly gas, within normal range.
In the final report, the medical examiner confirmed Hackman’s date of death as Feb. 18, when his pacemaker showed an abnormal heart rhythm before signals stopped. Arakawa had most likely died on Feb. 11, investigators said. She had researched COVID symptoms days before their deaths.
Her final autopsy report has not yet been released, but authorities have said she died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which can spread to humans from deer mice and other rodents via exposure to droppings. Rodent feces were evident in several buildings on the reclusive couple’s estate at the time of their deaths. Hackman tested negative for hantavirus.
With News Wire Services
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