Gene Hackman death: Police release bodycam footage from outside home – National

Authorities have released body camera footage from outside the home of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa, where they were found dead in late February.

In the newly released footage, officers are seen arriving at the scene for the first time and speaking with two maintenance workers who alerted authorities after discovering a body lying face down through a window.

With no signs of forced entry or other evidence of suspicious circumstances at the Santa Fe, N.M., home, the deputies asked about the possibility of a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning, and the workers said they didn’t see how that could have been the case.

“Something is not right. Something is not right,” one of the workers said to officers in the footage.

“My concern is a carbon monoxide issue,” an officer said after looking through the window of the home.

Authorities soon determined there were no leaks that could have been fatal, further fuelling a mystery that captured the public’s attention.

“Then we kept walking, and I seen something laying there. All of a sudden to see that, both of them, bro, it’s — sorry,” one of the maintenance workers said, fighting back tears.

The bodycam video also shares the moment that officers called Hackman’s daughter Elizabeth to deliver the heartbreaking news of her father’s death.

“I’m real sorry for your loss,” the officer told Elizabeth.

Elizabeth requested for the couple’s deceased dog to be cremated and buried with Arakawa.

“If the dog was wearing a collar, could you save that for me?” Elizabeth asked.

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In another video, obtained by Fox News Digital, Arakawa’s hairstylist shared that she had concerns during their last visit in December 2024.

“She mentioned to me that there was a man that had parked outside of their gate and followed them,” her hairstylist, a man named Christopher, told police.

“On two separate occasions. One occasion is when they went to White Rock. They went and had lunch there and the guy followed them from parked [outside their gated community], followed them all the way to White Rock.

“She said, ‘Christopher, I’m surprised that security didn’t [know] how he got there …  because when we left, I noticed that this car had followed us from the residence to White Rock.”

Arakawa reportedly told her hairstylist that the man had approached them with a folder of photos of Hackman and asked for autographs.

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“And I said, we were sitting here and I said, ‘That’s so weird because Santa Fe’s not a place of paparazzi and stuff.’ She said she approached him and said, ‘I told him he needed to have more respect,’” Christopher said.

On another occasion, the same man reportedly followed the couple to a different location. Christopher said Arakawa told him the man offered the couple a bottle of wine and they declined.

“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Betsy, that’s crazy. You should not have approached this person. This makes me nervous,’” Christopher said. “He knew what [they] drove. That’s the scary part.”

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Medical investigators confirmed that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s about a week after hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare, rodent-borne disease — took the life of his wife.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released only some of the footage from the investigation.

Last week, a New Mexico court granted a temporary restraining order against the release of certain records related to the investigation into the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa.

The order was in response to a request by Julia Peters, a representative for the couple’s estate. She urged in a motion filed earlier this month 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 the 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.

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The request to seal the records notes that the couple placed “a significant value on their privacy and took affirmative vigilant steps” to safeguard their privacy over their lifetime, including after they moved to Santa Fe and Hackman retired.

“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,” the document stated.

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The newly released bodycam footage comes one week after authorities discovered new information in the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa, shifting the timeline of events.

According to NBC News, cellphone records indicate that Arakawa was alive at least one day after her originally estimated time of death.

Arakawa’s phone records show that she made three calls to Cloudberry, a private medical clinic, on the morning of Feb. 12 and it appears that she missed a return call the same afternoon.

The medical investigator’s office had previously estimated that Arakawa died on Feb. 11, seven days before Hackman, who was believed to have died on Feb. 18.

Authorities told the BBC that Arakawa had exchanged emails with a massage therapist and visited a grocery store, pharmacy and pet store on Feb. 11. Garage opener data showed that she returned home around 5:15 p.m. that day.

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Dr. Josiah Child, the lead doctor at Cloudberry Health, told the outlet that while the clinic had never treated Hackman or Arakawa, she had reached out for medical advice.

“She called and described some congestion but didn’t mention any respiratory distress, shortness of breath, or chest pain,” he said.

Arakawa had scheduled an appointment for Feb. 12 but cancelled it on Feb. 10, saying she needed to care for her husband, according to Child.

On the morning of Feb. 12, Arakawa called the clinic again seeking treatment, but personnel there told her she needed to be seen in person because she had not been taken on as a new patient yet.

“There were a couple calls back and forth to just schedule that appointment for the afternoon, but she never showed up,” Child said. “Our office called back several times and never got an answer.”

— with files from The Associated Press

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