It looks like Hackman's wife, Arakawa, died February 11 from a hantavirus, and Hackman, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, died of heart failure on February 17, the last day his pacemaker sent out a signal. News story here.
Strange, and sad, that apparently nobody was checking up on them regularly.
A corpse could be contaminated with rodent droppings. 'Hantaviruses are from rodents etc etc' say all the news reports, which is no help unless they link it to this specific case.
ReplyDeleteBut how do people die from hantavirus? Suddenly?
I read she pulled down the bathroom wall heater on top of herself - more like she had a sudden heart attack.
OK, it's called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome: Pulmonary because it weakens the lungs, and resulting lack of oxygen slowly damages the heart. The word Pulmonary is key. They still have not said how they know she had it - medical history?
ReplyDeleteSo, she likely *died* of a sudden heart attack, if she had the syndrome, and if death was sudden.
But if she was lying dead in the bathroom, what was Hackman doing for six days? Was his dementia that bad?
ReplyDeleteYes, first time they mention Alzheimers. His daughters said he was healthy and doing pilates. My guess was he died first and wife had heart attack rushing to pill cabinet to try and save him, in shock.
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