The world was shocked when the two-time Oscar-winning star Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico mansion on February 26. By the time they were discovered, they had each been deceased for quite some time, and their remains were mummified.
Now, the contractor who found their bodies and called 911 on that fateful day has broken his silence to reveal new details about their deaths.
Hackman Contractor Reveals All
Jesse Kesler had worked for the Hackmans for fifteen years. Back in February, he realized something was wrong after his “very strange” final email exchange with Arakawa nearly three weeks before the bodies were found.
“The last email I had with her, I asked a question and I never got a reply to that question, which was very strange,” Kesler told Fox News. “At that time, I knew something was wrong. I thought maybe I was in trouble, thought maybe I had done something wrong. As time went on, it started to sink in more that something is definitely not right.”
As weeks went by without Arakawa responding, Kesler’s fears for the couple increased. Finally, he realized that something was “seriously wrong.”
“I started reaching out to other people and asking them if they had talked to them, and it was all the same thing … two and a half weeks, three weeks,” Kesler recalled. “It was not like them at all to just go out of town, or if something would have happened to someone, I think I would have known about it. And there was nothing. And so that’s when I knew I had to do something, and basically started the process.”
Related: Gene Hackman, 95, Was ‘Murdered,’ Hollywood Legend Randy Quaid Alleges
Kesler Finds Hackman And Arakawa’s Bodies
Kesler wanted to perform a wellness check, but he needed to get in touch with a family member of the couple in order to do so. He didn’t know Hackman’s three children from a previous marriage. In fact, the only phone number that he had belonged to Arakawa’s mother’s assistant.
Given how notoriously private Hackman and Arakawa were, Kesler hesitated to bring any kind of attention to them. However, he finally decided to go to their mansion on February 26 to check on them. When Kesler got to the property, he ran into a pest control employee who was leaving. He immediately asked the worker if he’d seen anything suspicious at the home.
“The first thing he told me was, ‘Yes, the dogs are out.’ And dogs were never to be out,” Kesler recounted. “And that’s when my heart sank, and I knew something was really, really wrong.”
Inside the mansion, Kesler found the bodies of Hackman and Arakawa. Officials believe that Arakawa died first. She passed away sometime on February 12, which is when she made her final phone call. She died from hantavirus, a rare flu-like virus transmitted through rodent droppings. Officials later discovered that Hackman and Arakawa’s mansion was infested with rats, making it a “breeding ground” for hantavirus.
It’s believed that Hackman survived until February 18, which is when his pacemaker last showed signs of activity. Hackman’s official cause of death was heart failure He was also suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease, meaning he may not have been aware that his wife had died in their home.
Related: Gene Hackman’s Wife’s Autopsy Is Finally Released – Reveals Disturbing Detail About Her Death
Kesler Mourns Hackman And Arakawa
Kesler has been left devastated by the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa. He’s now planning to write a book to share his memories of the couple.
“I just want people to know how good of people they were,” Kesler explained. “There’s a lot … there was so much being said, tunnels under the house, stuff like that … people need to know. They need to know the truth. There was nothing like that. They just need to have the facts.
“But also, I would like to share stories,” he concluded. “I have so many stories, and I mean, right down to even my kids have stories of Gene and Betsy … the stories alone that I have over those 16 years are good stories. They’re all positive. I was so fortunate to work for them. I was just … and when we lost them, I was devastated because, I mean, it was a dream to work for them, it really was.”
Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths are nothing short of a devastating tragedy. Please join us in saying a prayer for Kesler and their other loved ones as they continue to mourn them.
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