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Thanks to new evidence, police have been forced to change the timeline of Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy Arakawa’s death, which could impact his estate. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office initially said they believed Arakawa died on February 11 and Hackman died one week later, on February 18. New evidence now proves she was still alive on February 12.
“We can now confirm that Mrs. Hackman’s phone was utilized on the morning of February 12 to call a medical center in Santa Fe, Cloudberry Health,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “A total of three calls were made that morning, all to the medical center. One incoming call was made to Mrs. Hackman from the same medical center that afternoon that appeared as a missed call on Mrs. Hackman’s cellphone. This information was learned through investigation into the cellphone data contained on her phone.”
It may have been proven “through investigation into the cellphone data contained on her phone,” but it appears to have been “learned” when Dr. Josiah Child went public claiming Gene Hackman’s wife called his office, sounding healthy, the day after police claimed that she died.
In addition to that piece of information that police apparently hadn’t uncovered when they announced Betsy Arakawa’s death date, Dr. Child also cast doubt on the medical examiner’s diagnosis of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome for her cause of death, saying, “I am not a hantavirus expert but most patients who have that diagnosis die in hospital. It is surprising that Mrs. Hackman spoke to my office on the phone on February 10 and again on February 12 and didn’t appear in respiratory distress.”
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office claims that it never reported an official date of death for Betsy Arakawa. They only stated that Feb. 11 was “the last time she was known to be alive.”
Any changes in the timeline for Betsy Arakawa and/or Gene Hackman’s deaths, could play a factor in the couple’s wills, ABC 7 News reports. Gene Hackman left his $80-million estate to his wife. His children were not named in the will. Betsy Arakawa, on the other hand, left her estate to charity.
“If Betsy passes away first, and then Gene, his will in a sense would become void because the individual he wanted his items to be passed to no longer exists in the eyes of the law,” said ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire. “His estate and everything he left in his will would go to probate court, where individuals can argue that they should receive the benefits of Gene Hackman’s will.”