Ammon News - Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman was in an advanced state of Alzheimer's and died of heart disease and other factors likely days after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died of a rare virus spread by mice, according to autopsy results released on Friday in New Mexico.

The 95-year-old Oscar-winning actor, 64-year-old Arakawa, and one of their dogs were found dead on February 26 in separate rooms of their Santa Fe home.

Hackman's heart disease and the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome that caused Arakawa's death were announced at a press conference at the Santa Fe Sheriff's office.

Hackman's wife died a week before he did, results showed. A reporter asked Sheriff Adan Mendoza if Hackman's advanced Alzheimer's had hindered him from perceiving her death.

"I would assume that is the case," Mendoza told reporters.

“He was in an advanced state of Alzheimer’s and it is quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, told reporters.

Arakawa is believed to have died around February 11, authorities said on Friday, citing the date of her last email.

Jarrell determined Hackman died on February 18, based on his pacemaker activity.

Hantavirus is a rare disease in the U.S., with most cases concentrated in the western states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. In northern New Mexico the virus is predominantly spread by droppings and urine of deer mice. Reuters