>(NEXSTAR) – The causes of death for actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were released Friday after days of mystery and speculation. >At a media conference Friday, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner for New Mexico’s medical investigator office, identified Hackman’s cause of death as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiac disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor. Arakawa’s cause of death was said to be hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease caused by rodent-spread hantaviruses. >Hantaviruses are found throughout New Mexico and primarily in deer mice. Human infections are rare but serious. There have been 136 such cases in the past 50 years in the state, and 42% of those cases were fatal, said Erin Phipps, New Mexico State Veterinarian. >Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found dead in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26. Hackman was found on the floor of the home’s mudroom alongside a walking cane and sunglasses, and Arakawa was found on a bathroom floor near a space heater. One of their dogs was discovered dead nearby. >An open prescription bottle was also found near Arakawa’s body, with pills scattered on the bathroom countertop. The medical examiner clarified Friday the pills were thyroid medications, which were being taken as prescribed and not believed to have contributed to her death. . . [Archive](https://archive.today/wip/HKt0Y)