RIP Gene Hackman

So the fact that the pacemaker never made an emergency call....suggests the phone died first...meaning he didn't charge it.

That could mean anything from half a day to a couple of days of battery life depending on modern phones. So the time of death would have been before the phone ran out of battery...so it could be much earlier than the 17th.
You've got that the wrong way round. The police seem satisfied he was alive at least on the 17th based on the pacemaker date they've been able to retrieve, not sure if that was the phone (possibly meaning he died afterwards if the phone battery died) or the pacemaker itself.

Was listening to a podcast this morning that brought this up as they had the emergency call and the handy man was explicit in stating he couldn't get into the house to check them both as the call handler went through the usual "are they moving" "are they breathing" etc checklist. It's possible the dogs were "stopping" him as you could hear them barking in the background.
 
The odd thing about this, if still true, who or why was one of the dogs locked in a cupboard, while leaving 2 outside.
Not too odd.

I can think of a number of reasons, if it was a young dog or small it might not have been allowed outside unsupervised because of the risk from local wildlife, might have had an injury or something there are a bunch of routine reasons and that assumes it just didn't want to go outside.
I know a few people who have had two or more dogs and sometimes 1 of them wouldn't be allowed outside at the same time as the others, or without supervision.
 
I felt pretty depressed looking sat his picture now and then. Life is harsh.
 
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Wife might have died and if he had dementia or other neural condition he couldn't charge his phone or look after himself. He may have died a day or two later than his wife. He was a very old guy.
seems the logical.
dog locked in room for some reason, naughty or just need them out the way quickly,
she has a Heart attack,
he's incapacitated either medical condition or natural and can move or isnt concious.

alterantive, but similar : he passed away, it caused her to have a heart attack when she found him.

by all accounts they loved each other deeply and loved their dogs. the kind of love they and other portray would mean it would be a terrible shock to her.
if it was planned i'd have expected them to ofload the dogs.
so suggests what ever happen was unplanned.

we all got to go some time, i just hope it wasnt something other than natural, and it was quick :/
sad times, we are loosing some great people.
 
The odd thing about this, if still true, who or why was one of the dogs locked in a cupboard, while leaving 2 outside.

That has been clarified since, the "cupboard" was actually a dog cage, so not so odd. It wouldn't have lasted long without any water once Gene and his wife had died, for whatever reason that is.
 
In general it is good to have dogs in an enclosed space when you are not home or not actively watching them. Our dog loves to go in her cage. Its her calm, quiet place to sleep and we can be sure she isn't getting up to trouble .

And to be clear, she get loads exercise, training, and interaction. She goes with me or the wife when we run, so usually 10-15km off the leash on a forest, then additional walks in the village for training, training at home etc.
 
We've just been hearing from officials in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with an update about the investigation into the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.

Here's what we learned:

  • Hackman probably died about a week after his wife, autopsies performed on the couple found
  • Officials believe Arakawa died on 11 February from complications caused by hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but serious respiratory illness caused by exposure to infected rodents
  • Hackman is believed to have died a week later on 18 February, according to cardiac data obtained from his pacemaker
  • The actor is believed to have died from "significant heart disease", the medical examiner said
  • He was also in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, she added, and it's "quite possible" he was not aware that his wife died in the days after
  • The results from an autopsy on their dog, which was also found dead with them, are still pending
That's really sad
 
Wow :(

After his wife died he was probably just wandering the house by himself with no idea of what was going on. I'm more surprised they didn't have some type of carer system in place to help his wife manage, people with advanced dementia can be challenging to work with to say the least.

No way for anyone to go. :(
 
That's sad. I wonder why their children didn't keep in regular contact. If I had a parent suffering from medical issues I would keep in contact.
 
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