So his wife, Betsy Arakawa, probably died first from a lung disease having been in the process of taking some medicine. Hackman was second a few days later from heart disease (and being generally screwed up with dementia), and the dog was third, presumably from starvation. They keep on saying it was in a closet and in a crate. This description, suggesting it had been boxed up and stuffed into a cupboard, is some of the shit journalism that made the whole thing sound so weird. Apparently it had been recently picked up from a vet by Betsy, after receiving treatment, so the poor thing was probably in a dog-carrier which had been put down in a walk-in dressing room. Sounds as though Betsy died very suddenly and hadn't let it out, with Gene Hackman being less than half-aware of what was going on. All very sad.