Gene Hackman’s Estate Seeks to Seal Autopsy Photos, Body-Cam Footage

The estate of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are seeking to block the release of autopsy reports, photographs, and other material stemming from the investigation into the couple’s deaths.

Julia Peters, who represents the couple’s estate, filed a request with a Santa Fe district court to seal the records, citing Hackman’s discreet and “exemplary private life,” his family’s constitutionally protected right to grieve privately, as well as the gruesome nature of the photographs and body-cam footage of the couple’s home from when police discovered their deaths, the Associated Press reports.

While New Mexico law blocks the dissemination of potentially sensitive images of citizens’ deaths as well as medical records, the nature of Arakawa’s death — her main cause of death was hantavirus, a rare respiratory disease usually transmitted by rats and mice — could potentially present a public health concern and thus be available under the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.

Details regarding Hackman’s will have also emerged, with the actor — who died a week after his wife, with heart disease and Alzheimer’s the main causes of death — leaving the entirety of his fortune to Arakawa. TMZ reports that Arakawa’s will stated that if she preceded her husband in death, she would leave the majority of her assets to Hackman. 

However, Arakawa’s will also had a clause that said if the two died within 90 days of each other, their fortune would be donated to charity. While Hackman’s three adult children weren’t listed as beneficiaries in either will, due to the bizarre nature of the actor and Arakawa’s death and New Mexico’s community property laws, the Hackman children are in line for the actor’s share as his only living heirs.