Bodies of Gene Hackman, Betsy Arakawa unclaimed a month after discovery

Jami Ganz, New York Daily News on Mar 27, 2025

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The bodies of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa have still not been claimed, a month after the couple was found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

As of Thursday, two individuals — identified as Hackman, G. and Hackman, B. — are still noted on the New Mexico medical investigator’s list of unclaimed decedents. The list is updated each Monday and Friday.

The New York Daily News reached out to the medical investigator’s office to inquire whether either decedent has been claimed since the latest update on March 24.

Hackman and Arakawa, as well as one of their three dogs, were found dead in their home on Feb. 26. Officials later said the two-time Oscar winner likely died on Feb. 18 from “severe heart disease” coupled with advanced Alzheimer’s. He was 95.

Arakawa, a 65-year-old classical pianist, is believed to have died roughly a week earlier because of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but sometimes fatal disease transmitted from rodents to humans.

Earlier this month, documents obtained by TMZ showed that Hackman left the entirety of his $80 million fortune to Arakawa, designating her as his sole beneficiary in 1995. They married four years before.

None of Hackman’s three children — Christopher, 65, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie, 58 — were named in his will. He shared his family with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese.

Hackman had occasionally spoken about the sometimes difficult relationships he had with his kids, admitting that his commitment to his career meant he wasn’t always around during their formative years.

“You become very selfish as an actor,” he told The New York Times in 1989. “Even though I had a family, I took jobs that would separate us for three or four months at a time.”

While Hackman and his children had reportedly grown closer in recent years, it’s unclear where they stood before his death. His “devastated” daughters and granddaughter said in a statement they would “miss him sorely.”

Leslie also said she was “very saddened” by the death of Arakawa, who she praised for taking “very good care” of her father. She said the two shared a “wonderful marriage.”

In bodycam footage from outside the actor’s home, Elizabeth requested that an officer cremate the couple’s deceased dog, Zinna, and bury the remains with Arakawa.