Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa Hackman, had been looking into flu and COVID symptoms in the days before she died, according to newly released reports.
Footage from the Hackman home, captured by Santa Fe Sheriff's Department, shows investigators on the scene in February. Detectives also reviewed Betsy's computer and found a string of health-related searches.
Betsy emailed her massage therapist on Feb. 11. She 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..."
She had searched “COVID” at least four times before that. She also visited Cloudberry Health center in Santa Fe, according to the records.
Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza offered condolences and said the department aimed to balance transparency with the Hackman family's grief. "Our statutory and fiduciary responsibility... requires us to find compassionate and workable solutions that respect both public transparency requirements and a grieving family's dignity," he said.
Detectives found Betsy's Google history included terms like "flu and nosebleeds," "COVID nosebleeds," and "Can COVID cause dizziness?" All searched between Feb. 8 and Feb. 10.
Massage therapist Katia Van Horn told authorities she hadn’t seen Gene in over a year. She recalled that he once had surgery in New York. She also saw Betsy on Feb. 5 and remembered her talking about hitting a median with her car.
Betsy’s last searches were on Feb. 12. At 8:59 a.m., she looked up "How long do the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy last." A half hour later, she searched for Cloudberry Health.
"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.