Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
A New Mexico judge made a big ruling in the mysterious death investigation involving Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa. The two were found dead inside their Santa Fe home in late February.
a major ruling from a judge will allow the public to see inside the home of hollywood legend Gene hackman and his wife betsy arakawa after were found dead.
the latest courtroom battle over whether the body cam video ,autopsies and other documents captured by law enforcement schould be released.
and the strong words from the late actor´s estate to keep to keep that acess private as there are also major questions about where hackman’s $8O million fortune will go.
there is a major exception in the materials that a judge is allowing to release to the death investigations of Gene hackman, his wife Betsy arakawa and their dog .
they were found dead inside their home in Santa Fe , New Mexico on february 26th.
hackman was 95 years old ,his wife Betsy was 65 years old and their dog was found in a create we later learned it recently had a procedure and had to be confined.
how the couple died is no longer a mystery ,the medical examiner determined that Gene hackman died of a combination of Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
Betsy died of a rare but dangerous invfectious disease called hantha virus ,it’s carried by rodents and it can have initial symptoms like fatigue and fever,it’s so rare hat the departement of health in mexico says there have only been 156 cases of this in the last 50 years in the state but more than 40% of those cases were fatal .
their dog was unable to survive without food and water as it was trapped in that crate with both owners having passed away.
as more details of this story have come to light, the more it appears it was a sad and tragic finish for this couple who spent much of their final years trying to be out of the public.
deputies say that arakawa died first on february 12th, she was found in a bathroom with medication bottle on the counter and pills scattered nearby.
there was a space heater near her on the ground which led people to believe that she had suddenly fallen and taken that down her .
her husband Gene hackman ,Oscar winning actor Gene hackman who was roughly 30 years her senior died after her,police believe that he passed on february 18th that is 6 days after his wife.
he had a pacemaker that recorded its last event on that day according to Santa Fe deputies.
Gene hackman was found dead in a mud room with a cane and sunglasses near him,it’s unclear if he was aware that his wife had died days prior .
the medical examiner did say he was quote in rough shape when she described his his health and his battle with dementia.
while the questions about how this couple passed have been answered there’s a legal battle over what people should be able to see from the day that deputies were called to the home after a contracter arrived for work and notice that ‘s something was wrong.
media organizations have argued they have a right to see the body cam video from deputies who went inside the home the day that hackman and his wife were found dead.
but hackman’s estate and hackman’s adult children have argued the release of that information would just create more trauma.
a footage from body camera video ,youre taking a look at that right here from the santa fe county sheriff’s office .
it’s all from outside the house on the day that they responded here’s one of the initial conversations a deputy had with the contractor who arrived and noticed something was wrong.
much of that body cam video is of the deputies waiting outside the house as the gas company does an inspection initially deputies were concerned there was a carbon monoxide leak and potentially that led to Gene hackman and his wife’s deaths but it was later found that that was not the case.
just how private the hackman were which is a cornestone of the argument that their estate is making in court to keep videos private
here’s a part of what the attorney for the hackman estate said in his opening statement.
this case is about a celebrity couple who lived in a very private lives in santha fe ,new mexico,they took great pains to stay out of the publig light, they lived a private gated community,they live very quitely in santa fe and unfortunately they died a very tragic death.
they would not want to have their publicity ,privacy invaded by having the tragic death exploitd by the press, this case raises issues of right to privacy and potential security issues for the state.
mr and mrs hackman had an expectation on the right of public publicity during their lifetimes and after the death, they had a right to control their names their likeness and their image during their life.
and the estate has the right to control their names likeness and images after their death
the hackmans controlled access to their home, during their lifetime,the hackmans never conducted interviews in their home and never provided access to the press to their home.
by releasing the video cams and investigated material to the public,the sheriff’s office will be undermining that control exercised by the hackmans during their life and the estates right following their deaths
the disclosure of the videos is simply another of circumventing the control the estate should retain as the hackmans did during their lifetime
the request for the video cam is nothing more than a backdoor exposure to the hackman’s lifestyle that could not be attained by the press during their lifetime.
the petitioner has pending two probates and under the probate code she has 3 months to conduct an inventory of the estate
by releasing the video cams of the hackman’s home the assist state will make public an inventory of the home before the personal representative has time to conduct such an inventory .
since the probate code does not require the publication of an inventory the release of the video cams will undermine the private probate process under new mexico law and in fact violate the provisions of the probate code by the publication of the estate’s pop probation inventory by publishing the video cams.
petitioner is thus seeking to determinations a declaration that the estate of Gene and betsy arakawa hackman have a right of publicity to protect the name likeness and image of Gene and betsy hackman.
a declaration that Gene hackman and Betsy hackman families have a constitute right to privacy
the essence of this matter is that petitioner seeks a determination as towheter the estate’s right to publicity and the family’s right to privacy shall be infringed upon by releasing the sensitive items pursuant to the mexico statute
the sunshine law intended to disclose misconduct, no misconduct had been expressed in this matter .
it is about transparency and government action,but it is not an open- ended and does not allow the public open access to all government documents and materials there are exceptions, one of the exceptions is under the last exeption under the code is under others other law.
and we would supply the court with other law being that there’s a right to privacy and a right a constitutional right to control the publicity of the states
the public does ot have an open- ended right to exploit the material for personal gain and in violation of the privacy rights of the hackmans states in particular
there simply is no legitimate government purpose for releasing this material at this time, a preliminry injunction is the only proper remedy in this matter.
if the requested videos,photos and cam records are released the estate has no assurance of how the material will be used.
we know when deputies first arrived inside hacman’s house they took several items as pieces of evidence in in the investigation and this is what that body cam video that yet to be released could show.
from the start deputies said there are no signs of foul play but the couple’s death were considered unique and suspicious because there were really no clues to tell them what had happened.
here’s some of the items that deputies took from hackman’s home as evidence per a search warrant.
there were two green cellular devices,thyroid medication, a calcium blocker,high blood pressure medication,Tylenol and records from myQuest,which how patients can schedule blood tests through Quest diagnostics as well as a 2025 montly planner.
a lawyer representing CBS and the associated press said this about why the public has a right to see the video and to look at documents that the hackman estate wanted to block .
this hearing went for three and a half hours.
Hackman’s estate also raised Questions about whether releasing the body cam video could create security concerns at the $ 3.3 million house where the couple lived.
people is reporting that Betsy arakawa’s mom put a statement in court document trying to block graphic photos from being released .
” I humbly come before this court to request that this court respect my right to grieve in peace and find that i have a constitutional right to avoid seeing images of my daughter’s home ,her dead body ,her husband’s dead body and their dog’s corps.
the public spectacle surrounding my daughter’s death is one that no parent should have to live through”
eventually the judge ruled that the public will be able to access the autopsies and see body cam video that the media is requesting.
but there is a big BUT to that ….
there will not be any images allowed of Gene hackman and Betsy arakawa ‘s bodies.
it’s unclear when this body cam video could be released.
it’s typical for law enforcement to blur or redact images like dead bodies so it will be interesting to see exactly how much redaction there is on this body cam when it’s released.
and there are still questions about what will happen to the $8O million fortune that Gene hackman created in his 40 years in film .
we know that in 2005 hackman’s will stated that Betsy arakawa was the sole beneficiary so when he died she would receive his assetss
but, Betsy ended up dying first ,just days before Gene died .
Betsy ‘s will reportedly said that if Gene died first her remaining money would go a charitable trust ,benefiting the community that’s according to the hollywood reporter.
media reports also say that Gene’s adult children were not named as beneficiaries of hackman , it is unclear what kind of access they could have to this fortune.