Investigators in Gene Hackman's death release footage from inside home, wife Betsy's online search history
Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa Hackman, inquired about COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms multiple times before she died, according to a report obtained by Fox News Digital.
Detectives with the Santa Fe Sheriff's Department also released footage from inside the Hackman home on the day their bodies were discovered in February.
Through a search of Betsy's computer, investigators discovered an email Betsy sent to her massage therapist on Feb. 11 where she admitted Gene (G) took a "covid test" after experiencing "flu/cold-like symptoms."
Prior to her email, Betsy had researched "COVID" at least four times before pursuing medical attention at the Cloudberry Health center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, documents showed.
Gene Hackman's Home Found To Be Infested With Rodents After Wife Died Of Hantavirus
With the release of the records as ordered by the First Judicial District Court, Santa Fe County, sheriffs extended their appreciation to first responders, and offered sincere condolences to the Hackman family in their time of loss.
Read On The Fox News App
"Our statutory and fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers requires us to find compassionate and workable solutions that respect both public transparency requirements and a grieving family's dignity," Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said.
Beginning Feb. 8 through 9, "multiple searches related to flu and COVID symptoms" were discovered in Betsy's Google search history, detectives reported.
On Feb. 10, Betsy searched "flu and nosebleeds" at 11:52 a.m., followed one minute later with another search for "COVID nosebleeds." At 1:15 p.m., she searched, "Can COVID cause dizziness?"
In an email correspondence with Katia Van Horn sent on Feb. 11 at 10:24 a.m., Betsy wrote, "So, G woke up today with flu/cold-like symptoms, did a COVID test, negative. But out of an abundance of caution, I should cancel my appt tomorrow and rebook, say, in a couple weeks, last week of Feb if something is available.."
Gene Hackman Death: Bodycam Footage Reveals Wife Feared Being Followed
Van Horn told investigators that she had not seen Gene "for over a year," but mentioned that he had previously "undergone surgery performed by a doctor in New York."
Feb. 8-9, 2025 – Multiple searches related to flu and COVID symptoms
Feb. 10, 2025 at 11:52 a.m. – "Flu and nosebleeds"
Feb. 10, 2025 at 11:53 a.m. – "COVID nosebleeds"
Feb. 10, 2025 at 1:15 p.m. – "Can COVID cause dizziness?"
Feb. 12, 2025 at 8:59 a.m. – "How long do the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy last"
Feb. 12, 2025 at 9:26 a.m. – "Cloudberry Health Santa Fe, New Mexico"
Additionally, Van Horn saw Betsy on Feb. 5, and remembered the late pianist discussing a recent car accident where she had "hit a median with her vehicle" and needed to visit a Toyota repair shop.
Like What You're Reading? Click Here For More Entertainment News
Betsy's final two search queries were on Feb. 12, including "How long do the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy last" at 8:59 a.m., and "Cloudberry Health Santa Fe, New Mexico" at 9:26 a.m.
"This data suggests that Betsy was actively researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms in the days leading up to her death," the report stated.
The Hackmans, and one of their dogs, were found dead in their home on Feb. 26. The couple had been married for more than 30 years.
In newly released video footage from the day authorities discovered Gene and Betsy's bodies, body camera footage revealed one of the Hackmans dogs protecting Betsy's body.
Click Here To Sign Up For The Entertainment Newsletter
Bear and Nikita, the late couple's dogs, helped authorities find Gene and Betsy's bodies when officials arrived at their home in New Mexico.
Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya explained the department immediately located Betsy in a bathroom after entering the front door of the New Mexico home. However, officials searched for nearly 30 minutes with no sign of Hackman.
WATCH: AUTHORITIES SEARCH GENE HACKMAN, WIFE BETSY ARAKAWA HACKMAN'S HOME
Detectives initially described the couple's deaths as "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation," according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.
While paramedics and officers from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department searched the home, one of the couple's dogs kept running up to them. Authorities originally thought the dog wanted to play but later realized the pup was trying to help. One of Hackman and Betsy's dogs died, but two remained alive at the home and were able to roam through an open back door.
The deceased dog, Zinna, likely died from dehydration and starvation, according to the report, which specified the dog's stomach was empty.
Zinna's body was discovered in a crate that was in a closet about "10 to 15" feet away from where Betsy's body was found on the floor of the bathroom.
Betsy, a classical pianist, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to New Mexico officials. Gene died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributing factor.
Gene likely survived alone in the home for about a week, until he died around Feb. 18, which was the last time activity was recorded on his pacemaker. Authorities assumed this was his last day alive, as the Oscar winner's body was not discovered for nine more days.Original article source: Investigators in Gene Hackman's death release footage from inside home, wife Betsy's online search history
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week. They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns. Kennedy's decision to 'retire' the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations. The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak. Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he's promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19. He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots. He's even suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He's downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years. Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named. Kennedy made the announcement in a social media post on Wednesday. The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how Food and Drug Administration-cleared vaccines should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and determine the scope of vaccination programs. ___ Associated Press reporter Amanda Seitz contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. Bombarded Bill Nye With Endless Anti-Vax Text Screeds
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a flood of texts to Bill Nye trying to convince the beloved 'Science Guy' of his anti-vax claims. The old text chain, sent before Kennedy became Donald Trump's health secretary, was revealed by Nye during a Men's Health profile of the children's television presenter. The barrage of messages from the prominent vaccine skeptic, which the magazine described as 'miles and miles of texts,' contained numerous links to articles and websites peddling vaccine-autism conspiracies that Nye said he paid no real attention to. 'Just no self-awareness,' Nye said. 'And if you read these articles he sent, they're all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that maybe there's a connection. I wrote him back and said, 'Okay, I'll read your book. I think you've confused causation with correlation. Your friend, Bill.'' The stream of messages did not end there, Nye said, even after he told Kennedy, 'Okay, no more texts.' 'He started again! So I cut him off,' Nye said. 'He does not have good judgment. He is not suited for this job.' The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. Kennedy has led a full-blown assault on vaccines as part of the Trump administration's campaign to restore public 'trust' in the lifesaving shots. That includes the shock move to fire all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an expert panel that evaluates vaccine safety and efficacy. All had been appointed under the Biden administration. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy said vaccines had become a 'divisive issue in American politics' and that public confidence in the health agencies that provide them is 'waning.' Nye said the increase in vaccine skepticism, which soared amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is having real life negative consequences on people's lives. That includes the reaction to a measles outbreak in Texas that primarily hit unvaccinated individuals in the Mennonite community. 'It was a religious sect with historically low vaccination rates. And the argument from the other side is: They have rights not to get vaccinated. No, you don't,' a frustrated Nye said. 'Unvaccinated people can, and usually do, spread a disease. And that's why we have these rules, for public health! It's not arbitrary. It's not about your rights. It's about my rights, people.' Nye didn't hold back on Kennedy's bizarre public stunts either—like chugging raw milk with health influencer Dr. Paul Saladino to promote the Trump administration's initially error-riddled Make America Healthy Again report on childhood illness. 'And then this thing where people want to drink raw milk. No, you don't,' Nye said. 'This is very well understood! Louis Pasteur! You guyyys! What is happening?' For more, listen to Bill Nye the Science Guy on The Last Laugh podcast.


Scientific American
41 minutes ago
- Scientific American
Planned NIH Cuts Threaten Americans' Health, Senators Charge in Tense Hearing
U.S. senators grilled National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jayanta Bhattacharya at a hearing on 10 June about how his professed support for science squares with unprecedented funding delays and research-grant terminations at the agency this year, as well as enormous cuts that have been proposed for its 2026 budget. What would normally be a routine hearing about government spending was anything but: hundreds of scientists and advocates for Alzheimer's disease research packed into a cramped room on Capitol Hill to denounce US President Donald Trump's 2026 budget request, which calls for cutting the NIH's budget by about 40% and collapsing its 27 institutes and centres into 8. Such a cut 'would stop critical Alzheimer's research in its tracks,' Tonya Maurer, an advocate for the Alzheimer's Association, a non-profit group based in Chicago, Illinois, told Nature at the hearing. 'We've worked too damn hard to see this happen.' On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Bhattacharya defended his leadership at the agency — the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world — noting that there is a 'need for reform at the NIH' and that to restore its reputation, the NIH 'cannot return to business as usual.' (The NIH has been accused by Trump and his Republican allies of funding 'woke' science and research on coronaviruses that they say could have sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.) To help fix the agency, Bhattacharya told the senators that he wants to focus on increasing reproducibility in biomedical research, upholding academic freedom and studying the cause of autism, which US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has pledged to find an answer to by September. Letters of dissent The hearing comes the day after more than 300 NIH staff members sent Bhattacharya a fiery letter decrying the mass termination of jobs at the agency and its cancellation of thousands of research projects on a growing list of topics that the Trump team has said are 'politicized', including those investigating the biology of COVID-19, the health of sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+) and reasons that people might be hesitant to receive a vaccine. 'We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources,' the staff members wrote. They named their letter the 'Bethesda Declaration,' after the Maryland community and Washington DC suburb where most of the NIH is located. The title also alludes to the 'Great Barrington Declaration', an open letter that Bhattacharya co-signed in October 2020 that argued against COVID-19 lockdowns except for the most vulnerable citizens, instead allowing for children and others to be infected so that 'herd immunity' could be reached ― a proposal that numerous scientists and NIH officials called dangerous at the time. At the hearing, Patty Murray, a Democratic senator from Washington, implored Bhattacharya to 'heed their warning,' and said that she expects that 'none of them face retaliation for raising those concerns.' Bhattacharya didn't respond to this comment at the hearing but said in a statement on 9 June that the Bethesda Declaration 'has some fundamental misconceptions about the policy directions the NIH has taken in recent months,' but that 'respectful dissent in science is productive.' Gavin Yamey, a global-health researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who signed the latest declaration, said, 'he can talk about freedom, but his own staff are decrying his censorship. How he's actually acting and what he says are not one in the same.' Taking ownership Several senators, including Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, questioned who was in charge at the NIH, given reports that billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency ordered agency employees to cut hundreds of specific grants. 'The changes in priorities, the move away from politicized science, I've made those decisions,' Bhattacharya responded. The mass terminations of awards at institutions such as Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 'that's joint with the administration', he said. (The Trump administration has alleged that universities such as Harvard have allowed discrimination, including antisemitism, on their campuses, and has cut or frozen research funding as a result.) The drastic 40% cut to the NIH's budget proposed for the fiscal year 2026 is not yet set in stone: the US Congress has the ultimate say over government spending, and during Trump's first presidency, when he proposed a huge cut to the biomedical agency in 2017, it instead approved a slight increase. Nevertheless, the composition of the body has changed significantly since then — far more of its members are now loyal to Trump. Comments made at the hearing by the senators weren't entirely divided down party lines. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who voted to confirm both Bhattacharya and RFK Jr, said she was disturbed by the budget proposal. 'It would undo years of congressional investment in the NIH,' she said.