Topics: Gene Hackman, Celebrity, US News
Following their tragic deaths earlier this year, a series of handwritten notes that Gene Hackman wrote to his wife Betsy Arakawa have been released to the public.
The bodies of the couple - who tied the knot in 1991 - were sadly found inside their Sante Fe home back in February, with responding officers and coroners ruling that they'd been dead for 'some time'.
One of their pet dogs was also discovered deceased inside the Santa Fe property.
After determining their double passing as 'suspicious enough' to look further into, a chief medical examiner subsequently ruled that 65-year-old classical musician Arakawa had died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
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The condition is spread mainly by rodents through their urine, droppings or saliva, infecting a person if they come into contact with it.
It was also ruled that her husband, 95-year-old Hackman, had died around a week later of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Medics said Alzheimer's disease also would have been a significant contributory factor in his passing.
In the weeks following the news, a number of heartwarming revelations about the couple's relationship have come to light, including that they wrote sweet letters to one another.
The collection of said handwritten notes were released by authorities in New Mexico this week, alongside a handful of photos of the pair.
In several notes written by The Royal Tenembaums actor Hackman, he referred to Arakawa as 'lovely girl', and signed the bottom of each with 'Love, G', revealing a nickname his wife likely gave him.
In another note, the actor penned a letter to Arakawa to apologise for needing her assistance with preparing her birthday meal.
He wrote: "Good morning, Happy several days after your birthday.
"Sorry still about the dinner and having to ask for your help, although it was appreciated. Love you and the guys, G.'"
Police reportedly found the notes scattered across the couple's residence, often hung up in peculiar places.
A third saw Hackman claiming he was 'thinking of' his other half.
"Morning lovely girl, thinking of your and the other little guys," he wrote. "Love G."
A fourth implied that the actor was aware of his diagnosis of Alzheimer's. "Ho, Ho, I am off to see the Wizard, the Wizz of Achie, Pokie," he wrote. "She stabs me here and stabs me there, she stabs me almost everywhere (almost).
"'But I survive because after I am still alive. (But some times just barely), Love, G."
In a fifth, Hackman told Arakawa he was heading out for some errands.
"I'm going down to that building out past the hot water place where you sit, and do whatever it is that people are supposed to do in such a building - maybe I'll remember once I get down there," he scribed.
"Love, what's his name."
A number of notes had also been written by Arakawa, including one where she revealed to her husband that she'd dug him out a jigsaw puzzle.
"Hi G! Taking Zin to obedience class & the vet appt. See you back at home!" she'd penned.
"There is jigsaw puzzle on the table. xo B."
