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Speaker 1: This is the Fitsy and with her with Kate Richie podcast,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about the bizarre passing of Gene Hackman and

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Speaker 1: what the inquest has found to what happened in these

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Speaker 1: final days.

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Speaker 2: As we know, we heard the rumors and it was

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Speaker 2: said that nothing was suspicious about the passing of Jane,

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Speaker 2: who was also found with his wife that had passed away,

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Speaker 2: Betsy and also their dog.

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Speaker 3: The dog was in the cupboard or something wasn't.

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Speaker 2: The dog was in a cage. It was like a

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Speaker 2: travel cage, travel compartment. So I believe, as far as

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Speaker 2: my understanding is that Betsy had taken the dog to

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Speaker 2: the vet. Now Betsy had then come home and passed

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Speaker 2: away while the dog was still in the cage in

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Speaker 2: the bathroom.

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Speaker 3: So she passed away, So the wife passed away.

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Speaker 2: She passed away first, so she was a lot younger,

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Speaker 2: she was in her sixties. But the thing was she'd

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Speaker 2: been infected by a disease known as hantavirus. Now this

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Speaker 2: is a you can only get from rats fits but

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Speaker 2: it doesn't affect there's no rats in Australia that can

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Speaker 2: spread this type of disease and it's extremely rare. But

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Speaker 2: the mortality rate of anybody getting that disease is up

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Speaker 2: to fifty percent, So if there was weakness within her,

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Speaker 2: then this would attack constantly.

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Speaker 3: Do they know how you get it off a rat?

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Speaker 3: Not a bite or no.

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Speaker 4: Tommy, what do you know about if you're handling the

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Speaker 4: droppings or breathing in the smell from the droppings, you

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Speaker 4: can get it that way.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's got to be abotic play.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, the black death and then it's a nasty lung infection.

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Speaker 2: So she's died in the bathroom. The dog has then

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Speaker 2: been caught and unfortunately dehydrated and starved in the cage.

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Speaker 3: Where was Jean the whole time, which, because he was

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Speaker 3: ninety five couldn't get around too well, he.

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Speaker 2: Was sort of wandering the property. Fits this is the thing.

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Speaker 2: So for about a week Gene Hackman lived in the

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Speaker 2: house and went about his business, not knowing that his

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Speaker 2: wife had died in the bathroom and also the dog

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Speaker 2: in the cage. So he has Alzheimer's, so there's a

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Speaker 2: fair chance that he wouldn't have even known. So he

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Speaker 2: was found with no food in his stomach, but he

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Speaker 2: wasn't dehydrated, so at some stage something must have kicked

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Speaker 2: in and he realized that he needed water. So they

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Speaker 2: found that he wasn't dehydrated, but he hadn't eaten. Now

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Speaker 2: as a ninety five year old with no food in

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Speaker 2: his stomach, they said the cause of death was actually

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Speaker 2: a carryo vascular disease, which obviously just tipped him over

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Speaker 2: as a combination of things after a ninety five year

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Speaker 2: old hasn't eaten in a week. So he was found

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Speaker 2: in what they're calling the mudroom, so that's kind of

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Speaker 2: a inside out room where you might enter through the house.

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Speaker 2: But also they found marks on his body where the

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Speaker 2: other two dogs obviously would have cared for him and

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Speaker 2: they would have rushed his aid and Leck scratched his

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Speaker 2: face a little bit to see if he was okay.

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Speaker 2: So when he was actually discovered, the two dogs were

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Speaker 2: frantic when people actually arrived in an effort to show

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Speaker 2: the authorities where where Gene and also his wife Betsy were.

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Speaker 3: The thing that scares me because that the body. It

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Speaker 3: was a couple of weeks after the bodies were found.

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Speaker 3: This is what you know, people, when you get to

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Speaker 3: that age and you don't have family checking on you,

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Speaker 3: like that's why wouldn't have anyone from both families been ringing?

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Speaker 3: It is really bizarre.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you got a ninety five year old, you'd

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Speaker 2: be calling every second day, wouldn't you. I mean That's

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Speaker 2: how I'd be operating, But I'm not in his family.

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Speaker 2: He also had a pacemaker which had stopped fit. So

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Speaker 2: the pacemaker had stopped so you know when he hit

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Speaker 2: the ground, or quite possibly the cause of him falling,

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Speaker 2: as I mentioned with cardiovascular disease, was maybe that the

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Speaker 2: heart had a heart attack on the pacemaker did not

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Speaker 2: kick him to gear, but a ninety five year old

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Speaker 2: without food for a week, it would have been a

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Speaker 2: horrible situation, not to mention what his wife, Jean Betsy

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Speaker 2: went through in the bathroom, and then the poor dog

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Speaker 2: sadly just starved to death in the cage. That's just

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Speaker 2: when this story broke, you thought, how could this possibly

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Speaker 2: have happened? If there wasn't any foul play, which they

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Speaker 2: cleared up really quickly in the news reports when it broke,

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Speaker 2: then how the hell does this happen? And this is

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Speaker 2: just an extraordinarily sad story of chance and horrible circumstance,

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Speaker 2: Yet it is.

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Speaker 3: It's when I first read it, I mean, Gene Hackman

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Speaker 3: if no one's checking up, I mean, it would have

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Speaker 3: been horrible if he knew what was going on when

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Speaker 3: his wife, and his wife had passed away and then

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Speaker 3: he couldn't he didn't have anyone to care for him.

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Speaker 3: But obviously if he's just wondering aimlessly.

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Speaker 2: Through around the property, around the block, it's just as

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Speaker 2: terrible one. I mean, they released photos of him from

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Speaker 2: not long ago, and you actually saw how frail he

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Speaker 2: was as an old man, because he's a very private guy,

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Speaker 2: so you hadn't really seen it. I think when the

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Speaker 2: story broke, Tommy, I thought, I haven't seen an image

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Speaker 2: of Gene Hackman for age.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right, and he was reclusive. His daughter spoke out, Leslie,

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Speaker 4: she spoke out overnight and she said we were close.

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Speaker 4: I hadn't talked to them for a couple of months,

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Speaker 4: a couple of months, but everything was normal and everything

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Speaker 4: was good.

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Speaker 2: We were close, and I hadn't spoken to my ninety

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Speaker 2: five year old movie star dad for a couple of months.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we're going to keep you out data.

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Speaker 2: It's seen. Whippa with Kate Ritchie is a Nova podcast

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Speaker 2: walk great shows like this download the Nova Player by

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