Transcript of Gene Hackman and his wife died one week apart from natural causes | BBC News

Hello there. Within the last hour, the authorities in Los Angeles have been giving more details about their investigation into the deaths of the actor, Jean Hackman, and his wife, Betsey Arakawa. They say he died from heart disease after his wife passed away from a rare infectious illness. Their bodies were discovered at their home in New Mexico last month. Officials believe he died a week after his wife. Well, Ema Vardy has our top story from Los Angeles.

When the bodies of Jean Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were found last week at their home in Santa Fe, it was unclear what circumstances had led to their deaths. Investigators have been piecing together the couple's movements. They now say they believe his wife, Betsey Arakawa, had died around a week before him.

It's not uncommon to find someone down on the floor as part of a terminal collapse, so to speak, and that may very well will have been what happened to Ms. Hackman.

Test results showed she'd contracted a rare virus called Hunter virus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans and can be fatal, and that Jean Hackman died a week later of cardiovascular problems.

The question was, was he aware that Ms. Hackman had died? I think that question is difficult to answer, but I can tell you that he was in an advanced state of Alzheimer's, and it's quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased.

The couple were found in different rooms and were only discovered when a caretaker called at the house and raised the alarm. Tributes have been paid to Jean Hackman by many fellow actors in Hollywood, and his family said he will be sorely missed.

Is this mystery now cleared up or is there any more that might come out, Emma?

Well, to some degree, they have now answered many questions, but investing The investigators have been trying to piece together the couple's final movements in that week, looking at CCTV, looking at phone records. But this virus that they say, Betsey Arakawa contracted, Hunter virus, they say is something they do see several times a year in Santa Fe, though it is pretty rare, it starts off as flu-like symptoms, so it could be mistaken for something else. Of course, it can be very serious. But it does paint this rather grim picture that she had died first and that Jean Hackman was in the house alone week or so, and that his Alzheimer's means it is very unclear as to how much he would have known as to what was going on or whether he would have been able to get help at all. But after this seemingly mysterious circumstance, now a number of questions have been answered to unravel some of the circumstances that led to Jean Hackman and his wife's death.

All right, Emma, thank you for that. Emma Vardy there, live in Los Angeles.