Gene Hackman and Betsy Arawaka’s dog heartbreakingly guarded her dead body. New body camera footage has been revealed of the day police entered the Santa Fe property to find Betsy’s body.
Heartbreakingly, next to her, one of the couple’s dogs was seen protecting her as the police entered the property. In the 11-minute video, one of the investigators is heard saying: “Poor guy, he’s sad,” in reference to the dog, which sits there and waits.
Officials released the footage but blurred the musician’s body. However, the house can be seen as very cluttered as the dog silently sits there, as if it’s protecting its owner in the most heartbreaking way.
Gene died of a heart illness, as well as complications from Alzheimer’s disease, one week after Betsy died from hantavirus. An investigator in a report stated: “I observed the the male’s extremities to be red and purple in color, the male appeared to be stiff, and his mouth was open. I also observed a pair of black sunglasses to the to the left on the male that were on the ground. To the right of the male, I observed a black-in-colour walking cane. It appeared as if the male suddenly collapsed.”
It was concluded that Betsy had died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome around February 12, which is a rare condition that is spread via rodent droppings and urine. Gene died on February 18 – six days later – from severe heart disease, which was exacerbated by Alzheimer’s disease and kidney disease, the investigation found.
One dog sadly died, but the two dogs that survived had been temporarily living at Santa Fe Tails, owned by Joey Padilla. He later revealed the dogs had been split up and moved into their forever homes.
Bear, a German Shepherd, and Nikita, an Akita-shepherd mix, have both been cared for. One has been rehomed out of state, while another was moved into a home in New Mexico.
“It is with great joy that, with the consent of the estate attorney, I and my staff at Santa Fe Tails have successfully found homes for the Hackmans’ surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita,” he wrote.
“We went through stringent efforts to ensure the best homes were found and the dogs have already begun settling into their new lives. We are all thankful for the concern and well wishes Bear and Nikita have received during their transition. It is our hope that everyone continues to wish them the best and honor their privacy so they can continue to heal.”
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
