WASHINGTON — Authorities have released body camera footage from when law enforcement responded to the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa.
The video shows as Santa Fe authorities discuss the discovery of the bodies inside the actor’s home with witnesses. It does not include any footage from inside the home, where Hackman, Arakawa and one of their dogs were found dead last month.
Forensic experts said the 95-year-old actor died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease a week after a rare, rodent-borne disease took the life of his wife at their Santa Fe home.
The partially mummified remains of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb. 26 when maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police.
Authorities unraveled the mysterious circumstances and revealed that Arakawa likely died Feb. 11 at home from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. Hackman, in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, apparently was unaware that his wife was dead.
Last week, a New Mexico court granted a temporary restraining order against the release of certain records related to the investigation of Hackman and Arakawa’s death.
The order was in response to a request by Julia Peters, a representative for the couple’s estate. She urged in a motion filed last week that the court seal records in the case to protect the family’s right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Peters emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and potential for their dissemination by media.
A hearing has been scheduled for later this month to argue the merits of the request. For now, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the state Office of the Medical Investigator cannot release photographs and videos showing the couple’s bodies or the interior of their home, autopsy reports or death investigation reports.