It’s been nearly two months since the world was stunned by the news that Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico home. And now, the story has taken an even more heartbreaking turn: authorities have released a set of handwritten letters Hackman wrote to his wife in the days leading up to their deaths — and they’re the kind of quiet, intimate love that stays with you long after reading.
Hackman died at 93. Arakawa was 65. The couple’s passing was first reported on February 26, and since then, there’s been a cloud of speculation around the circumstances — including reports that both bodies remained at the local morgue for weeks because their family had yet to claim them.
The Letters Gene Hackman Left Behind
This week, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released new details from their investigation, including images from inside the home — some showing the cluttered interior, and others showing a variety of medications found in the bathroom, where Arakawa’s body was discovered. But it’s the notes left behind by Hackman that caught everyone’s attention.
The letters appear to be recent — one references Hackman’s birthday dinner on January 30, and another mentions Arakawa’s from mid-December. The tone is gentle, affectionate, sometimes playful — and tinged with the awareness of mortality.
In one note, Hackman writes:
“Good morning. Happy several days after your birthday. Sorry still about dinner and having to ask for your help… I love you and the guys. G.”
Another note reads:
“Good morning, lovely girl, I’m thinking of you and the other little guys. G.”
(The reference to “guys” could mean their children or their dogs — both dogs were reportedly found inside the home.)
Then there’s a third, more surreal and self-aware letter — one that shows Hackman grappling with the fog of Alzheimer’s and the fragility of his own mind:
“Ho ho, off to see the wizard, the Wizard of Achie, Pokie. He stabs me here and there, he stabs me almost everywhere (almost). But I survive because I’m still alive (barely sometimes). With love, G.”
See also: Gene Hackman’s Caretaker Heartbreaking 911 Call Revealed ‘Please Send Somebody’
Betsy Answered — with Love, and Little Hearts
Authorities also revealed that Betsy left letters of her own for Gene. Her notes, often signed with hand-drawn hearts, offer a glimpse into a relationship filled with care, tenderness, and a kind of devotion that’s all but vanished in the age of notifications and read receipts.
While it’s unclear exactly when the letters were exchanged, police confirmed that in the days before their deaths, Betsy had been researching COVID symptoms. Both were reportedly unwell. Her final known contact with anyone outside the home was on February 12, when she reached out to a doctor in Santa Fe.
According to medical analysis, Betsy Arakawa died that day from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but deadly disease. Gene Hackman passed away a few days later, due to heart disease and complications from advanced Alzheimer’s.
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They lived quietly. They died quietly. But what they left behind — these scribbled messages, full of love and ache and the ordinary intimacy of decades together — says more than any headline ever could.
This article was originally written in Spanish by Fernando Eslava in Cultura Colectiva.
