Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s dog likely died of dehydration and starvation.
A report from the US Department of Agriculture’s veterinary lab has detailed partial mummification and also provided insight into the dog’s death.
The report states that the stomach of the kelpie mix named Zinna, one of the couple’s three dogs, was mostly empty except for small amounts of hair and bile, People Magazine reported.
The other two dogs were found to be healthy despite being rescued over a week after the couple died in their Santa Fe apartment, where actor Gene, 95, and Arakawa, 65, led a private life.
Authorities confirmed last week that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease in February 2025—about a week after his wife’s death, who had succumbed to a rare, rodent-borne disease hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Hackman, in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, apparently was unaware that his wife was dead.
