Court blocks release of images of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s bodies

A Hackman Family Estate representative had urged a judge from New Mexico to seal photos, videos and documents to protect family privacy. Judge Matthew Wilson, based in Santa Fe, had submitted temporary control over the release of registries pending of Monday’s hearing.

Wilson said anything that does not include images of couples’ bodies could be launched.

The partially mummified remains of Hackman and Arakawa were found at their home in Santa Fe on February 26, when maintenance and security workers appeared at home and alerted the police.

The authorities have confirmed that Hackman, 95, died of heart disease with complications of Alzheimer’s disease approximately one week after his wife’s death. Hackman could have been without realizing that Arakawa, 65, was dead.

His cause of death was as Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is a rare disease and transmitted by rodents.

The Law of Open Registries of New Mexico blocks public access to confidential images, including representations of corpses. Experts also say that certain medical information is not considered public records under the Public Registry State Inspection Law.

The real estate representative, Julia Peters, has emphasized the possibly shocking nature of the photographs and the video in the investigation and the potential for their dissemination by the media in the attempt to block them.

The demand for Hackman Family Estate also seeks to block the release of autopsy reports from the Office of Medical Researcher and Death Research Reports of the Sheriff’s Office of the Santa Fe County.

A lawyer of the farm, Kurt Sommer, argued during the audience on Monday that the couple struggled a lot to stay out of public light during their lives and that the right to control the use of their names and similarities should extend to their assets in death.

Most of the investigations of death by the application of the law and the autopsy reports by medical researchers are generally considered public records under state law in the spirit of guaranteeing the transparency of the government and responsibility.

Before listening to arguments and testimonies on Monday, Wilson granted a request from the media, including Associated Press, to intervene.

The authorities unravel the mysterious circumstances of the couple’s deaths and described their conclusions at a press conference on March 7 without publishing most of the related written and photographic records.

One of the three dogs, a Kelpie mixture called Zinna, was also found dead in a box in a bathroom close to Arakawa. Two other dogs were found alive.

Susan Mador, a publicist who had worked with the Hackmans for years, testified that the couple knew how to live in Santa Fe because they gave them anonymity. Hackman retired in the early 2000s.

Arakawa had no children, while Hackman survives three children from a previous marriage. It is likely that privacy will also play a role as the couple’s assets are resolved.

According to the documents of the Court of Successions, Hackman signed an updated testament in 2005 leaving his assets to his wife, while the testament he signed that year directed his assets. With both die, the farm management is in the hands of Peters.

It is pending a request to appoint an administrator to administer assets in two trusts associated with assets. Without the trusted documents that are made public, it is not clear who the beneficiaries are and how the assets will be divided.

Lawyers who specialize in patrimonial planning in New Mexico say that more details may come out if there are legal disputes over assets. Even then, they said, the parties would probably ask the court to seal the documents.