What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
Isolation's Deadly Cost: The tragedy of Gene Hackman
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A legendary actor and his wife die alone in their mansion with no one to help them. The heartbreaking final days of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa reveal a tragedy that unfolded in slow motion behind the gates of their Santa Fe estate.
When authorities discovered their bodies on February 26th, they pieced together a timeline that would chill anyone with aging loved ones. Betsy, a talented classical pianist 30 years younger than her husband, contracted the extremely rare Hantavirus and died around February 12th. What happened next is even more devastating – Hackman, suffering from advanced Alzheimer's and heart disease at 95, wandered their home alone for nearly a week, unable to comprehend what had happened or call for help.
Their story forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about aging and isolation. Despite Hackman's illustrious career spanning 40 years and 77 films, including Oscar-winning performances in "The French Connection" and "Unforgiven," fame and fortune couldn't protect them from tragedy. The couple had withdrawn from public life after Hackman's retirement in 2004, with Betsy becoming increasingly protective of her vulnerable husband, especially during the pandemic.
This episode explores how their deaths were initially shrouded in mystery, with speculation about carbon monoxide poisoning or foul play, before autopsies revealed the truth. We also unpack the complex aftermath regarding Hackman's $80 million estate, which he left entirely to Betsy while excluding his three children from his previous marriage.
Beyond the headlines, we remember the loving relationship between these two talented individuals who were frequently spotted holding hands, even after 34 years of marriage. Their tragic end reminds us that sometimes what we do to protect those we love most can have unintended consequences.
Follow us on Instagram @whatweloseintheshadows and join us next Tuesday for another compelling story from the shadows.
Gene Hackman was likely dead for 9 days before he and his wife were found, sheriff says | CNN
Santa Fe authorities update timeline on the last days of Gene Hackman and his wife | CNN
Gene Hackman's children not named in actor's $80m will
Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com
Background music by Michael Shuller Music
Podcast Introduction & Missing College Student Case
Speaker 1Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the Shadows a father-daughter true crime podcast. My name is Jamison Keys.
Speaker 2I'm Caroline. Hello, Good morning.
Speaker 1Caroline, how are you?
Speaker 2I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1Excellent.
Speaker 2Good, I have a sad tidbit of true crime from the news.
Speaker 1Oh no.
Speaker 2Yes, it is about a college student who is currently missing. Her name was Zadiksha Kanaki and apologies if I mispronounced that. She went missing um while she was on spring break in the Dominican Republic. So she was um a U S citizen, dual citizen um here in India, and so she'd been here since 2006 with her family. She was from Loudoun County, virginia, and went to the University of Pittsburgh, and she was 20 years old and she went with a group of friends to the Dominican Republic on spring break.
Speaker 1So do we know, is she, is she just missing, or have they ruled out any kind of you know? Is it foul play? Do they think?
Speaker 2So that's the weird part. So I feel like it is Right. But you tell me what you think. Here's what happened, or what we know of what happened. Obviously, in the Dominican Republic, as well as many other countries in the world, 18 is the legal drinking age. So you know, she went with her friends, she was 20. So she was probably drinking along with everyone else. They were hanging out with Sure, which makes it a little fuzzier, right. So on March 6th this was a Thursday she and her friends had arrived on a Monday, remember, they're on vacation, so they're, you know, they're hanging out, they're doing whatever, sure Been there. And so they, or the surveillance camera, picked up a group of friends, including Kanaki, which is her last name, kanaki going to the beach, which is her last name, kanaki going to the beach.
Speaker 2Um, I think it's like four or five women, her and, uh, one or two men, right, uh, young men, and they go to the beach around 4 15 am on thursday, around 5 55 am same same thursday. Right um, the surveillance camera captures five women and one man leaving the beach, so it's just kanaki and another, uh, young man man that aren't caught on ccv that are not seen leaving the beach right um, and then surveillance video also shows the man who was with her leaving the beach alone at 9.55 am.
Speaker 2Okay, so that is four hours of they were at the beach, just the two of them, and then he comes back alone. That's not good Right, and so ABC News says that Kanaki is thought to have died by drowning. It said that she and the young man, uh, that she was with were caught by a big wave when they went for a swim. So I just I guess I'm like, okay, like they didn't, they didn't report this for a while, so so.
Speaker 1so so those two split up there. They're on the beach, um, by themselves, yep, um, it's five, six in the morning, whatever it is, uh-huh. So they're the only two out of that group that are left. Uh-huh, nine something.
Speaker 2Nine, fifty-five. The man is seen leaving.
Speaker 1Yes, Is he? Does he go to the police? Does he? Is he frantically?
Speaker 2Not immediately. No.
Speaker 1Okay, so that's that's not good.
Speaker 2See, right, that's what I mean. And so, you know, the US embassy there and the Indian embassy are both, like you know, supporting the family and supporting police in the Dominican Republic, sure, trying to find her, and so they've done extensive water searches for her and they haven't found anything Right. So her father, kanaki's father, right Appealed to the news and the media saying, like you know, she wanted to be, she wanted to go into medicine, like she's very promising, very kind young woman. Um, he wants them to look into like kidnapping and um human trafficking as a possibility. So that's something that they're also um looking into. But, as of this recording we still are unclear, but I wanted to put it on everyone's radar.
Speaker 1So a couple of things. Yeah, I didn't think of the human trafficking right off the bat, but that does make sense. It also strikes me kind of similar. It hits me similar to was it Natalie Holloway? Yeah, Holloway.
Speaker 2Holloway.
Speaker 1That was on vacation in Aruba. Aruba, really Aruba Really has similar.
Speaker 2Yeah, young, you know, drinking for one of the first times, presumably.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2You know out with a young man or boy Right and then goes missing on the beach.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, yeah, because, honestly, if you are, if something happened, hopefully, if something happened on the beach, yeah, yeah, because honestly, if you are, if something happened, hopefully, if something happened on the beach and you're with them and the waves take, you're, you're frantically trying to look for someone like nine o'clock. There should be people coming to the beach. Lifeguards should be coming to the beach.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's almost 10 am.
Speaker 1Police should be kind of floating around, hopefully. Almost 10 am, police should be kind of floating around, hopefully. I mean, I can't remember if the Dominican Republic is on the US.
Speaker 2No.
Speaker 1Watch list in terms of be careful when you go to the Dominican, because you know there are different places. The State Department says, yeah, let's not go there. I can't remember if the Dominican is one of those or not.
Speaker 2I don't know. I personally have been to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and I um puntacana in the dominican republic and, um, I felt really safe at the resort. Well, but uh, you know, I think there is like some inherent danger of hanging out with I'm not sure if they knew each other. The article didn't say exactly, but if you're hanging out in a different country it's dangerous. I feel like it's dangerous, and so for sure I don't know I feel like I'm just I'm I'm suspecting that it was.
Speaker 2It was the, the guy she was last seen with, because it's like what do you mean? You didn't report her, but she got taken by a wave. I, that's just it's.
Speaker 1I don't know certainly it's possible, because I don't know I I'm not a great, I'm a decent swimmer. I'm not a great, I'm a decent swimmer. I'm not a great swimmer like you, but like I've been caught for a moment, like in a riptide.
Speaker 2I mean, I've been caught in bad waters too, but I would. I mean, the only reason why I could see him you know, not saying anything immediately is if he was blacked out drunk, and that is a possibility when you're on these resorts where it's unlimited drinking.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2It's a possibility. I just don't think it's that likely.
Speaker 1Yeah, it really. It hits kind of bad, like like something else happened.
Speaker 2And it's like, even if you're very, very drunk, you know you're still. I feel like you would remember that and you would go tell someone For sure, even if you were blacked out drunk.
Speaker 1For sure. Well, would go tell someone for sure, even if you were blacked out drunk for sure.
Speaker 2Well, let's gosh. You wish for the best hope of course, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1Something extraordinary happens, yes, and she's found, like she has, amnesia, one of these terrible, the you know dialogues from the 70s kind of thing. She had amnesia for, you know, she didn't realize she was lost, oh, but um, well, I'm too young for that kind of dialogue. Well, let's hope for that, that's that's awful, yes, I hope that they find her.
Speaker 2I hope you know she's okay.
Speaker 1Yeah, Young bright.
Speaker 2Going into medicine. Yeah, you know we.
Gene Hackman's Death Announcement
Speaker 1We don't have enough of those kinds of folks, so let's, let's hope that they find her. You probably actually I think you are the one that actually told me about this. Today we're going to be covering really a heartbreaking story. It's about the actor, lead actor, gene Hackman, and his wife, betsy Arakawa, and the mysterious circumstances that surround their death, and so joining us and trying to uncover what really happened, some of the shocking details and how the final days actually played out. Now, because when we were first talking about this and I was first putting this together, there was enough things that weren't lining up that everyone was thinking well, it's one of a couple things. It's either carbon monoxide poisoning or maybe it was something that's not quite right. But since then, of course, we found out that that isn't the case. Yeah, on February 26th of this year, the word was stunned by the news that Gene Hackman, the legendary actor, had passed away, but what made his death even more tragic was the discovery that his wife, betsy Arakara, who was 30 years younger than he was.
Speaker 2She was 65, yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, and had died maybe a full week earlier than Hackman, who was in the advanced stages of both Alzheimer's disease and he had serious heart issues as well. Likely he didn't even realize that his wife was gone.
Speaker 2That's the scariest, saddest part.
Speaker 1Yeah, leaving him unable to, you know, seek help after her death. And authorities revealed that Hackman died of heart disease, a natural cause of death, uh, but that the death of his wife, uh, that was really what led to the heartbreaking, you know, kind of serious events. So you know, if you're younger and you don't know, gene Hackman uh was a world famous actor, right, you know, known internationally Um, he was. He was married twice uh. His first marriage was to a lady by the name of faye, maltese, and he was married from 1956 to 1986. They had three children, um, and divorced that year uh, he met, he met and married betsy arakawa in 1991.
Speaker 2She was a classically trained pianist and yeah, she was like very well known for um pianists right, absolutely so.
Speaker 1Very, very talented in her own right and um. They were married for 34 years. Hackman's career spanned over 40 years um he was in 77 movies. He won two academy awards in 1977 he won the best actor award for the french connection and the best? Uhing Actor role in 1992 for the Clint Eastwood film Unforgiven. And the great thing about Gene Hackman was he was equally adept at playing both the hero and the villain. In 2004, under the recommendations of his doctor, he retired from making movies and opted to live the quiet life in Santa Fe, new Mexico, with his wife and his dogs. He loved German shepherds.
Speaker 2That's so cute.
Speaker 1So let's kind of walk through this timeline of the events. First go back to February 11th of this year. Betsy was last known, you know, doing activities through that day. She emailed a message to her therapist in the morning and then ran some errands into Santa Fe. She visited a grocery store and a pharmacy and a pet food store. By 5.15 pm she returned home to the gated community that she shared with Hackman, but after that there was no further communication from her.
Speaker 1Investigators believe that she died that evening, with medical examiners suggesting that she most likely was experiencing flu-like symptoms earlier in the day, which prompted her to go to the pharmacy. Our car was caught on CCTV visiting the pharmacy while wearing a face mask, something she did quite often to protect Hackman who, as we said, was 95, and who was medically vulnerable. She also stopped by the pet food store before heading home. Sadly, she never responded to any emails that day or any day after. Police found her lifeless body in the bathroom of their home. Her death has been linked to the Hanta virus and what it basically is it's. It's a virus that is infected in the feces, drops of rodents and can become airborne and that sort of thing, and apparently that's what happened.
Speaker 2It's so strange. I can't imagine they had rats in their house.
Speaker 1Well, they don't think the rats were in the house. They think that this is. They lived. Let's say they lived in a very, very affluent. That's what I mean. They lived, let's say they lived in a very, very affluent, very, very that's what I mean. Yeah, but a very, very quiet and desolate sort of area and a really high end subdivision there. Their home, for example, was a sprawling kind of an estate $3.5 million. It looked beautiful, but they think that they found rat droppings in the garage. Oh, and maybe she somehow became constipated.
Speaker 1It's terribly sad. It really is terribly sad. Now, while Eric was battling this rare infection, gene Hackman was struggling with his Alzheimer's disease and days after her death, it seems like he was wandering through the house, confused and unable to seek help.
Speaker 2Oh, that is just tragic.
Speaker 1According to his pacemaker data, hackman's heart shows signs of irregular activity on the 17th I remember she died on the 11th and also the 18th, leading authorities to believe that likely he passed away around February 18th, though his body wasn't discovered until the 26th.
Speaker 2So sad it's really it is.
Speaker 1It's really, it is. It's heartbreaking to imagine Hackman what he must have gone through already in poor health, his wife gone, trying to fend for himself and not really understanding or knowing what has happened. And I don't know the stage in which he was in terms of his Alzheimer's disease and his heart disease as well. But you know, it's just. You know, imagine, not knowing exactly what's going on, not knowing exactly how to contact anyone, if he had no concept of phones and that kind of thing. Now, it's just a terrible, terrible situation.
Speaker 1They found his body in the hallway, in the mudroom. They found his body in the hallway, in the mudroom. He had his cane beside him and his sunglasses. Likely he fell at some point or had a heart attack or something. His stomach was empty, which means he hadn't eaten in quite some time, but interestingly he was not dehydrated. So somehow he remembered to or was able to figure out, you know, drinking and that kind of thing. So authorities spent days trying to figure out the cause of death, with speculation, you know, running out that it was carbon monoxide, like we said, or was it foul play. But autopsies eventually confirmed that both deaths were from natural causes. Hackman's death was due to heart disease, you know, with that combined with the Alzheimer's, and our cause, we said before, was from the Hanta virus.
Speaker 2So, sad.
Speaker 1As the investigation unfolded, authorities also discovered that the couple had three dogs and one dog, zena, had passed away, likely because the dog had recently had surgery and they think she was in a pen and that sort of thing, so wasn't able to get out. Because that was my thought originally, I'm thinking, ok, both of them and the dog has to be carbon monoxide or some sort of a poison, right, because how else does it kill everyone, everyone, especially a canine. You know they tend to be more, more sturdy and not as susceptible to viruses and things like that, right? Um, but when they rolled that out, I'm like, okay, maybe it is foul play, maybe something, maybe someone poisoned them or whatever, but that has also been ruled out so what did the dog die from?
Hackman's Career & Life with Betsy
Speaker 1the dog they think died. They're. They've done the autopsies on both gene hackman and and his wife betsy and uh, but they were doing his last thing. I saw that they were going to be doing one on the dog as well the dog will tell a lot of things but probably what happened. He was in the cage and he probably dehydrated and died of that miserable way to go so sad, so, so, so sad.
Speaker 2I just it's so sad because, like, these people were like so successful and I guess it just goes to show you that, like, even if you, you know, have all the money in the world, like you know, bad things can still happen.
Speaker 1It's so sad well, and and apparently, um, apparently, betsy had kind of taken it upon herself to protect him as best she could, because that's the other thing she was in really good shape from all accounts, right.
Speaker 1So when I'm thinking how did she pass away? You know, I can understand a 95 year old man with both you know, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease. That makes sense. But she being 30 years younger and, from all indications, in pretty good shape, she had him doing yoga and things like that. She's like your age. I'm a little younger than that. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2Yeah, only a few years, though. Only a few years, right. You know what I mean. That's scary.
Speaker 1Right, but so, yeah, so that really kind of clouded things for a while and the fact that she tried to keep him safe, and I would imagine this stretched back a few years because you would think, well, how did they not talk to the children, how did they not talk to neighbors? I think I read somewhere that she really was trying to keep him well ever since the coronavirus came around. So maybe they limited their actions and limited going into town and limited seeing friends or family in an attempt to ironically protect him from that sort of thing. Yeah, so the virus is so incredibly rare, so few people actually die from the United States. There might be I can't remember if it said like a hundred cases or something like that on in a year, in a year given the fact in the.
Speaker 1United States.
Speaker 1So it's really really rare. And I guess what happened? It affects your um, your um, your lungs and so on, and so you aren't getting enough, uh, air, because they found her in the bathroom and there were pills scattered all over the sink and on the floor where she fell down. So apparently she probably wasn't able to breathe and, you know, passed out from that. And then you know it affects when you can't breathe well, or your airway is obstructed or you're not breathing. It eventually ends up with, you know, a cardiac arrhythmia and so on.
Timeline of the Tragic Events
Speaker 1That is just so sad yeah it really is, but at least you know, because everyone was just. It was so pervasive. Everywhere you went there were you know podcasts talking about it. There was news reports everywhere and everyone was speculating. They're like well, why didn't the kids contact him? Well, the children hadn't contacted them in a month or two. When you get older, one of the biggest problems is you know you start not having the same social interaction with friends and neighbors and relatives and that sort of thing that you maybe used to. Maybe some of your friends are already gone and it isolates you even more. So Betsy was doing her very best to keep him safe and unfortunately, because they were so isolated and because she was so protective of him, in the end it kind of caused a tragedy to kind of manifest itself.
Speaker 2So sad.
Speaker 1So, anyway, so our thoughts are with the family and you know, we want to remember them for the loving couple and the commitment to each other that they were, because I saw pictures of them and I saw a tape of them. They seem to be so genuinely in love with one another and always were holding hands, and a tape of them, they, they seem to be so genuinely in love with one another and always were holding hands and that kind of thing. And you know, um, uh, it's just, it's just a sad, sad case, but apparently it is not, technically speaking, a true crime case. Uh, but you know, I did, I did want to touch base and just kind of get some of the facts is the way I know them out there. Um, but, uh, yeah, he was one of my favorite actors.
Speaker 1I loved him from things like Hoosiers and, uh, just a variety of films that he did. So he'll be well. He'll be missed, and Betsy would miss too, because two people that special and that talented, um, yeah, just like the young lady from what you were saying before you, when you have someone that has great potential and great worth, it's a shame when they pass or when they travel out of our lives.
Speaker 2It is. You know it's a shame when anyone passes away.
Speaker 1That is, unfortunately, the very, very sad, very, very unusual case of Gene Hackman. I wanted to add one final postscript. After Caroline and I finished recording this, the details of Gene Hackman's will became available. So Gene Hackman's original will was rewritten in 2005 after his marriage to Betsy. The new will left his entire $80 million estate to Betsy Yarikawa, naming her as the sole beneficiary and trustee, excluding his three children from his first marriage.
Speaker 1Following Betsy's death just before, gene Hackman's, questions have arisen regarding the inheritance, as her will stipulates that if she died before Hackman, her estate would go into his trust, unless she died within 90 days of him. In that case, their deaths would be considered simultaneous and her will would be enforced. The timing of the deaths is crucial in determining the rightful heirs. Hackman's children, though excluded from his will, may now contest the will on the estate, but legal experts suggest that challenging a two-decade-old will be difficult. Also, the date of Betsy's death has also been updated. It seems that she reached out to a healthcare provider on the 12th via, I believe, phone, so it's now thought that she died on the 12th instead of the 11th. Now a lot of people will breathe into this and say well, is that some indication of foul play. I don't think so. Being a true crime podcaster and mystery writer, no one loves a good conspiracy theory more than I do, but I think in this case it's just one last tragic happening in this terrible, terrible story.
Speaker 2Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on.
Speaker 1And remember. All of the source material will be available in the show notes.
Speaker 2And follow us on Instagram at whatweloseintheshadows, and let us know if you want to hear a specific case.
Speaker 1Or if you just want to give us some feedback.
Speaker 2Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.
