Betsy Arakawa death: New conflicting claims about when Gene Hackman’s wife died revealed by doctor

Mystery continues to surround the death of Gene Hackman’s wife Betsy with new conflicting claims about when she died.

A Santa Fe doctor says Betsy Arakawa called his clinic 24 hours after police say she died, Daily Mail has revealed in an exclusive report.

The report conflicts with the Santa Fe medical examiner’s post-mortem examination, which concluded Mrs Hackman died of hantavirus, a rare respiratory disease, on February 11.

Examinations show she died a full week before her husband died from heart failure and Alzheimer’s disease on February 18.

But Dr Josiah Child of Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, New Mexico believes otherwise.

“Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12,” Dr Child told Daily Mail.

“She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband. She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her. She made an appointment for herself for February 12. It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory.”

He added she cancelled her appointment just a couple days before as her husband was not well.

“She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon,” Dr Child said.

“We made her an appointment, but she never showed up. She did not show any symptoms of respiratory distress. The appointment wasn’t for anything related to hantavirus. We tried calling her a couple of times with no reply.”

The doctor’s revelation has cast further mystery over the 65-year-old’s death. She was found on the bathroom floor of the couple’s Santa Fe home surrounded by pills, while Mr Hackman collapsed just 20ft away.

Investigators believe Mr Hackman’s Alzheimer’s may have stopped him from realising his wife had died.

Mrs Hackman was ruled to have died from hantavirus, an illness contracted by inhaling rat faeces, which has reportedly left medical professionals scratching their heads.

“I am not a hantavirus expert but most patients who have that diagnosis die in hospital” Dr Child said. “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.”

Mrs Hackman was last seen in Santa Fe running errands on February 11.