The estate of Gene Hackman is seeking to block his death records from becoming public.
The Oscar-winning movie star’s death at age 95 has been anything but private so far. The remains of Hackman, his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and a dog, Zinna, were found in their Santa Fe, N.M., home on Feb. 26. At a press conference last week, it was announced that Arakawa, 65, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome on Feb. 11, two weeks before her body was found with signs of mummification. Authorities said Hackman, who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease, was in the house with no caregiver until he died from heart disease on Feb. 18. The dog, which was crated post-surgery, died from dehydration and starvation.
Hackman’s estate filed wills for the couple on March 6, court records show. On March 11, a representative for the estate of the couple filed a petition to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, including photographs and police body camera footage from sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene, according to the Associated Press.
Additionally, the contractor/handyman who found Arakawa’s body has spoken out in a new interview.
The couple’s wills have been filed
The French Connection and Superman star’s estate was worth an estimated $80 million dollars. Wills for both Hackman and Arakawa, a pianist, were filed in Santa Fe district court.
According to the documents obtained by People, Hackman’s will — written in June 2005 — named Arakawa, whom he married in 1991, the recipient of his entire estate and also his personal representative. It pointed to a trust agreement made in 1995.
Hackman’s will was outdated in that it noted that if Arakawa predeceased him, he wanted attorney Michael G. Sutin to serve as his personal representative. Sutin died in 2019. Julia L. Peters, an attorney who serves as chief counsel at Avalon Trust Co. investment firm, was his second successor for personal representation and will serve in that role.
TMZ reports that Hackman’s children from his first marriage — Christopher, 64, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie, 58 — are not mentioned in the will. However, People reports that Peters filed additional court documents on behalf of the estate identifying them as his heirs.
Arakawa’s will was signed on the same date as Hackman’s in 2005 and listed the same representatives, according to People. She left most of her assets to Hackman, but it noted that if they died within 90 days of each other, her assets would go into a charitable trust “to achieve purposes beneficial to the community, consistent with the charitable preferences and interests expressed or indicated by my spouse and me during our lifetimes.”
Blocking sensitive images of a couple who ‘placed significant value on their privacy’
Peters filed a petition in Santa Fe district court to seal records in the couple’s cases “to protect the estates of Mr. Hackman and Ms. Arakawa-Hackman’s right to privacy.”
The petition noted that in its argument, with Peters writing that the “Hackmans led an exemplary private life for more than 30 years in Santa Fe, New Mexico and did not showcase their lifestyle.” During their lives, they “placed significant value on their privacy and took affirmative, vigilant steps to safeguard their privacy.”
While sensitive images and some medical information are blocked from release under New Mexico law, the bulk of death investigations by law enforcement and autopsy reports by medical investigators are typically public record. That’s to ensure that there is accountability in law enforcement investigations.
During the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office press conference on March 7, officials talked about the bodycam footage taken by deputies at the scene and their plan to release some of it.
The family of Naomi Judd, who died by suicide in Tennessee in 2022, also tried to fight the release of records, photos and bodycam videos sealed around the singer’s death but later dropped their petition. Her daughter Ashley Judd penned a New York Times essay that year about the right to keep personal pain private and has been outspoken on the matter.
Contractor who discovered Arakawa’s body speaks out
Jesse Kesler, a handyman and contractor who worked for the couple for 16 years, spoke out for the first time about being one of the two people who initially discovered Arakawa’s body.
“It wasn’t like we were just up there and just stumbled across it,” Kesler told the Daily Mail. “It was a two-week event that led up to us finally going in. We knew something was wrong. We were trying to get the process done correctly, not just walk on someone’s property.”
Kesler explained that he was in contact with Arakawa within days of her death, which is thought to have been Feb. 11. When she stopped responding to his subsequent communication, he became worried about their well-being. Kesler said he first attempted to get in touch with Hackman’s family members, but because it was taking too long, he decided, “The heck with it, I’m going” to their home.
When he arrived at the gated community on Feb. 26, he saw security guard Roland Lowe Begay and they went to the Hackman home together. While he didn’t explain how they got inside — authorities initially said the front door was ajar, but they later said it may have just been unlocked — Kesler saw Arakawa’s body on the floor of the bathroom, and Begay immediately called 911. They didn’t initially see Hackman’s body, which was in a different part of the house.
“I wish I’d gone … quicker, I might have been able to save Gene or the dog,” Kesler told the outlet. “It was one of the worst days of my life.”
The couple’s dogs assisted investigators
Santa Fe Fire Department Chief Brian Moya said that the couple’s two dogs that survived — Bear and Nikita — helped them find Hackman’s body.
Moya told USA Today that paramedics arrived and saw Arakawa’s body on the floor of the bathroom, but a 30-minute search didn’t turn up anyone else. However, the couple’s dogs, which were coming and going from the house through an open door, kept running up to them, barking and going off in a different direction.
“They realized [one of the dogs] was trying to say, ‘Hey, come over here! Come over here!’” Moya said, adding that it led them to the mudroom at the back of the home where Hackman’s body was found.
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