Bodycam footage of Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa Hackman’s death investigation has been released, according to reports.
TMZ obtained two videos from the investigation. One video showed a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputy talking on the phone with Gene’s daughter about what to do with the remains of a dead dog found inside the home near Betsy’s body. In the video, Gene’s daughter, who TMZ identified as Elizabeth, told the officer to cremate the dead dog and bury her remains with Arakawa.
Gene’s daughter asked the officer if the dog was the “older” one of the couple’s bunch. It was later confirmed the dead dog was Zinna, who was 12. She was the couple’s oldest dog. Elizabeth asked the officer if Zinna was wearing a collar and, if she was, if he could save it.
Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa Hackman’s death investigation body camera footage has been released. (Getty Images)
The video is dated Feb. 27, the day after Gene and Betsy’s bodies were found.
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The second video obtained by TMZ showed a groundskeeper on the day the couple was found, seemingly distraught over their deaths.
“To see that, both of them … I’m sorry,” the man said while getting emotional.
“I get attached to all these people. They treat me really well. And I met her [Arakawa]. She was a sweetheart and to see them like that…”
“I get attached to all these people. They treat me really well. And I met her [Betsy]. She was a sweetheart and to see them like that …”
Also in the bodycam footage is an officer sharing that he contacted both of Gene’s daughters, Elizabeth and Leslie, after their bodies were discovered.
Local news station KOB4 reported it had received over an hour of footage from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department of all the responding officer’s bodycams. The outlet reported that most of the videos are from outside the Hackmans’ home and interviewed the workers who found them.
Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa Hackman were discovered dead in their Santa Fe home Feb. 26. (Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
The outlet noted a recent lawsuit by the Hackman estate attempting to block the release of bodycam footage.
“The Sheriff’s office says that these fall outside of that scope of that lawsuit from the Hackman estate,” the outlet noted.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department.
Lawyer Kurt Sommer filed a petition March 11 in state district court in Santa Fe attempting to prevent the medical investigator and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office from releasing footage, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Betsy likely died a week before Gene Hackman. (Getty Images)
The petition attempts to block the release of the couple’s autopsy and “death investigation” until their deaths can be litigated, according to the outlet.
Sommer wrote that once the images are released “the bell cannot be unrung.”
Sommer argued the couple’s right to privacy outweighs the public interest in the couple’s death. He cited Kurt Cobain’s death in his petition and pointed out that a court refused to release the “death-scene” photographs.
“Undersigned counsel cannot think of respective harm that would come to the State and County offices from respecting the discretion of Mr. Hackman’s and Mrs. Hackman-Arakawa’s right to privacy,” he wrote.
Gene Hackman’s brain showed “advanced Alzheimer’s disease” at the time of his death. (Media Home Entertainment/Everett Collection)
“During their lifetime, the Hackmans placed significant value on their privacy and took affirmative, vigilant steps to safeguard their privacy.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hackman were members of this community, not part-time casual residents. The Personal Representative seeks to continue to preserve the privacy of the Hackmans following their tragic death and support the family’s constitutional right to remembrance and desire to grieve in peace.”
At the time, Sommer had no comment for Fox News Digital.
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The Associated Press reported that the petition detailed Gene and Betsy’s discrete lifestyle in Santa Fe.
Hackman’s daughter asked that the deceased dog’s ashes be buried with Betsy. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
They “lived an exemplary private life for over thirty years in Santa Fe, New Mexico and did not showcase their lifestyle,” according to the petition.
Gene and Betsy’s estate is represented by Julia Peters, a partner and chief counsel for the Avalon Trust Co. investment firm.
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According to the petition, Peters was Gene’s third choice of estate representative. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Betsy was Gene’s first choice, and his second choice, was attorney Michael G. Sutin. Sutin died in 2019.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department confirmed during a press conference that Betsy likely died Feb. 11, and Gene most likely died one week later. Authorities later stated that officials had determined multiple calls were made Feb. 12 from Betsy to a medical center.
Betsy died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, New Mexico officials told reporters. Gene died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor.
Gene Hackman also had “severe heart disease” when he died. (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
Feb. 18 was the last day activity was recorded on Gene’s pacemaker. The device noted an “abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation.”
Gene’s autopsy showed “severe heart disease, including multiple surgical procedures involving the heart, evidence of prior heart attacks, and severe changes of the kidneys due to chronic high blood pressure.”
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“Examination of the brain showed advanced Alzheimer’s disease as well as blood vessel changes in the brain secondary to chronic high blood pressure,” according to Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Heather Jarrell.
