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Further tragic details of the circumstances around the death of  legend Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been revealed, as a family doctor claims authorities have got their timeline wrong.

The couple’s dog Zinna was found dead alongside the couple in their  last month and likely died of starvation and dehydration, according to an autopsy report.

The report from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s veterinary lab was obtained by the Associated Press, and states there was no evidence of poisoning, disease or trauma that could have led to death.

Zinna, a kelpie mix, was inside a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa’s body.

The couple’s other two dogs survived.

The report found that Zinna’s stomach contained small amounts of hair and bile and not much else.

Joey Padilla from Santa Fe Tails pet care facility has been caring for the two surviving dogs and told the AP that Zinna was a returned shelter dog who became an incredible companion to Arakawa and a constant presence at her side.

Actor Gene Hackman with wife Betsy Arakawa. Photo / Getty Images

Couple’s cause of death

The bodies of Oscar-winning actor Hackman and his wife were  after emergency services were called to their property.

In a press conference earlier this month, Heather Jarrell, the chief medical examiner for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, told reporters that t.

She said Hackman died from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor.

“The cause of death for Miss Betsy Hackman, aged 65 years, is hantavirus, pulmonary syndrome. The manner of death is natural,” Jarrell told reporters.

Neither body showed any sign of trauma, nor any indication of carbon monoxide poisoning, which had been an initial suggestion.

 presents as a flu-like disease, with symptoms including fever, muscle aches, cough, sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea that can progress to shortness of breath and cardiac or heart failure and lung failure.

“This occurs after a one- to eight-week exposure to excrement from a particular mouse species that carries hantavirus,” Jarrell said.

Gene Hackman in 1973. Photo / Getty Images

Data from Hackman’s pacemaker showed its last activity over a week before his body was found when maintenance workers were unable to access the couple’s sprawling Santa Fe property.

“Based on this information, it is reasonable to conclude that Mr Hackman probably died around February 18. Based on the circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that Miss Hackman passed away first, with February 11 being the last time that she was going to be alive,” said Jarrell.

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But police have since admitted that there are “loopholes” in the case.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told media that authorities are still continuing their investigation and were going through the couple’s cellphone records.

Now, local doctor Josiah Child, who now runs Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, has spoken out to claim Arakawa was still alive after police said she had died.

Child, a former emergency medicine specialist, told the Daily Mail that Arakawa called his clinic on February 12, one day after Jarrell said she died.

He said she initially called in the weeks before her death to arrange an echocardiogram for Hackman.

“She made an appointment for herself for February 12. It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory,” Child said, adding she later cancelled the appointment on February 10 because of Hackman’s ill health.

“She called back on the morning of February 12 and spoke to one of our doctors who told her to come in that afternoon. We made her an appointment but she never showed up,” Child claimed.

“The appointment wasn’t for anything related to hantavirus. We tried calling her a couple of times with no reply.

“I am not a hantavirus expert but most patients who have that diagnosis die in hospital,” Child said, noting that Arakawa was not in respiratory distress when she called on February 10 or February 12.

Hantavirus can be spread by rats. Photo / File

What is hantavirus?

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a severe, often fatal respiratory disease caused by hantaviruses, found in rodents.

Although it’s rare, people can get HPS through a bite or scratch from a rodent such as a mouse or rat.

More often, the disease can be contracted from contact with rodents, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva.

Humans can also contract it if they breathe in the virus from an infected rodent. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, HPS has a mortality rate of 38%.

Although Jinna was found close to Arakawa, dogs cannot get sick from hantavirus, according to Dr Erin Phipps, the New Mexico state department veterinarian.