New Delhi, April 27 -- In a tragic incident, after sheriff Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa, a California man, identified as Rodrigo Becerra, 26, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare rat-infectious disease linked to rodents, news site SFGATE reported.

Arakawa, 65, the classical pianist married to Hackman, lost her life likely on February 11, the New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell had stated in a press conference.

Becerra used to work as a bell hop at Mammoth Mountain Inn, where rodent droppings have since been uncovered behind the establishment's front desk.

His family told SFGATE that he had become seriously ill and was given antibiotics the night before he was discovered convulsing in his Mammoth Lakes home, ...