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.

 

 

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