A New Mexico judge has restricted public access to police footage of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa following their deaths in February. The Hollywood legend was found dead at his New Mexico estate alongside his wife under mysterious circumstances on February 27.
Santa Fe police officials found the Oscar-winning actor, 95, dead in a wet room with one of his dogs laid next to him, while Gene’s wife Betsy was discovered dead in the couple’s bathroom, near a space heater with prescription tablets scattered on the floor. Earlier this month, a medical examiner revealed that Betsy, 65, had died from hanatavirus – a disease that can be transmitted by rats. They added that Gene’s cause of death was “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease” with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributory factor.
Today, lawyers for Gene Hackman’s estate argued in a Sante Fe court that photographs and videos of the actor and his wife’s bodies should not be released to the public, according to Deadline. They argued that the estate has a right “to protect Gene and Betsy’s property, including photographs and videos of their dead bodies”.
“Gene and Betsy Hackman’s names, likenesses and images are valuable and need to be protected and is clearly proven out by virtue of the press wanting to get his hands on the documents to exploit them for their own personal profit and gain”, Kurt Sommer, an attorney for Gene’s estate said.
He added that the couple “took great pains” to live a private life, saying that they lived in a private gated community and “died a very tragic death”.
Meanwhile Walker Body, who was arguing for the release of the documents to the media, said that it was not common for a judge to stop “state entities from doing their statutory required jobs” and that New Mexico’s privacy laws do not give a person the same privileges in death as it does in their life.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Matthew Wilson blocked public records from being released that showed the bodies of Gene and Betsy. However, he did allow for autopsy and investigative reports that do not show the couple’s bodies to be released.
Earlier this week, Gene and Betsy’s names were quietly scrubbed from New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator list of “unclaimed decedents” amid rumours of a bitter family division. It came after speculation that the couple’s family had yet to claim the bodies.
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