A contractor for Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, said he spoke with Arakawa days before they were found dead at their New Mexico home last month.

Officials said pianist Betsy Arakawa, 65, died on February 11 of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, while Hackman, 95, died eight days later of heart disease. The pair were found dead at their Santa Fe home — and their longtime contractor, Jesse Kesler, told Us Weekly that he was unaware of any health issues when he spoke on the phone with Arakawa on February 9.

Kesler was reportedly one of the first people at the couple’s home when they were found dead on February 27. Arakawa was discovered on the bathroom floor, in the same room where pills were scattered on the countertop. Hackman was in the mud room with sunglasses at his side. Zenna, the couple’s kelpie mix, was found dead in a kennel in a bathroom closet near Arakawa’s body. Their two other dogs were found alive on the property.

READ: Gene Hackman Died of Heart Disease, While Wife Betsy Arakawa Had Hantavirus

“It was a heartbreaking experience,” Kesler told Us Weekly. ““I was heartbroken. They were the sweetest people in the world to me and others.”

Heather Jarrell, Office of the Medical Examiner’s Chief Medical Examiner, said Arakawa tested positive for the hantavirus, a rare infectious disease primarily from deer mice. Alzheimer’s disease was listed as a contributing factor in Hackman’s death.

According to Jarrell, Arakawa sent an email on February 11 before going to a pet store, pharmacy, and grocery store. Data suggested that was the last day she was known to be alive, Jarrell said.

Hackman and Arakawa’s deaths were ruled natural.

Early on, police debunked rumors of carbon monoxide poisoning, noting no evidence of a gas leak. They also noted no signs of forced entry despite the front door being open.

Roughly three to four cases of hantavirus are reported annually. In the southwest, the virus is deadly in 38 to 50 percent of cases.

[Feature Photo: AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File]