Cellphone records indicate Betsy Arakawa, wife of actor Gene Hackman, was alive a day after her estimated time of death, a New Mexico sheriff’s official said Monday.
Her phone records indicate Arakawa made three calls to Cloudberry, a private medical clinic, on the morning of Feb. 12 and may have missed a return call in the afternoon, Santa Fe County sheriff’s spokesperson Denise Womack Avila said in response to an NBC News inquiry.
The state medical investigator’s office estimated that Arakawa died Feb. 11, seven days before Hackman is believed to have died — Feb. 18.
Maintenance workers found their bodies at their home in Santa Fe on Feb. 26. One of their three dogs was also found dead.
Arakawa was 65. Hackman was 95.
Avila said in a statement that the sheriff’s office did not previously determine an estimated time of death for Arakawa but acknowledged it did say her last known activity was Feb. 11. She said the office also noted previously that the investigation into the couple’s deaths was ongoing and that it would consider forthcoming cellphone records once they were obtained.
Chris Ramirez, a spokesperson for the medical investigator’s office, said the cellphone records were not yet in investigators’ hands when Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell publicly estimated Arakawa’s time of death at a news conference March 7.
“The information was based on what was available at that time,” he said by email. “As with all death investigations, the NM OMI and law enforcement will continue to work closely together to determine the facts necessary to close the case.”
Arakawa’s cause of death, as determined by the medical investigator’s office, is rare: hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which spreads to humans only by contact with rodents or their urine and droppings; it can lead to shortness of breath, fatigue and, ultimately, death.
Hackman’s cause of death was hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease being a significant contributing factor, the medical investigator’s office said this month.
On Saturday, the Daily Mail reported that Cloudberry’s leader, Dr. Josiah Child, said Arakawa had called the clinic on Feb. 12. Arakawa previously made an appointment about respiratory issues for that date but canceled because she was not feeling well, Child told the publication.
She initially reached out to Cloudberry to get a heart scan for Hackman, Child told the Daily Mail.
Cloudberry touts “personalized concierge medicine” on its website. Child is a former emergency room leader who now focuses on one-on-one patient care and managing the aging process, according to his biography.
Cloudberry and its leadership did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Also Monday, a New Mexico district judge temporarily blocked state and local investigators probing Arakawa’s and Hackman’s deaths from releasing imagery of their bodies, the interior of their home or any dead animals on the property.
Judge Matthew J. Wilson ruled in response to a request from a personal representative of the couple’s estates. Another hearing on the request is scheduled for March 31.
Erick Mendoza contributed.