Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead inside their home surrounded by tragic conditions. The Hollywood legend, 95, and Betsy, 65, were found dead on February 26 at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico after a security guard found their partly decomposed and mummified bodies at the propety.
The person who discovered the couple stated that they hadn’t been seen in their gated community for several weeks prior to their death. Following their deaths, it was confirmed that Betsy had died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome around February 12. This relates to a rare condition which is caused by a virus, which spreads through rodent droppings and urine.
Meanwhile, Gene died on February 18 from severe heart disease which was worsened by Alzheimer’s disease and kidney disease. Sadly, due to his condition, he may not have known that Betsy had already died. Now, shocking photographs and bodycam footage from first responders have revealed the state of their home when they died.
In one room, piles of clothes, documents and pictures were left scattered around the property which is expected to sell for around £5 million. Clothes had been building up in some rooms of their home, reaching the ceiling as they continued to pile more things on top of one another.
Meanwhile, another image shows things such as a fan, lamp and boxes piled up inside a bath in their home. Betsy’s dressing table was completely covered in pictures of the couple, as well as other items of artwork, pictures of their dogs and dozens of perfume bottles. In another smaller room, dog beds and mats could be seen scattered across the floor, while cupboards appeared to be filled with documents, stuffed toys and body creams.
A box of pills were also laid on the cupboards. In a dressing room, piles of clothing including shirts, jeans, dresses and shoe boxes were stacked extremely high and risked falling over. Elsewhere, heartbreaking notes written by Gene to his late wife were also found. Although the dates of the notes are not clear, Gene penned a moving message to his wife.
He wrote: “Morning lovely girl, thinking of you and the other little guys. Love G.” Another messaged appeared to show him acknowledge his own ill health but he managed to make light of the situation, writing: “Ho, Ho, I am off to see the Wizard, the Wizz of Achie, Pokie.
“She stabs me here and stabs me there, she stabs me almost everywhere (almost). But I’ll survive because after I am still alive. (But some times just barely). Love G.” In another, he wrote: “I’m going down to that building out past the hot water place where you sit, and do whatever it is that people are supposed to do in such a building – maybe I’ll remember once I get down there.”
Heartbreakingly, next to Betsy, one of the couple’s dogs was seen protecting her as the police entered the property. In the 11-minute video, one of the investigators is heard saying: “Poor guy, he’s sad,” in reference to the dog, which sits there and waits.
Officials released the footage but blurred the musician’s body. However, the house can be seen as very cluttered as the dog silently sits there, as if it’s protecting its owner in the most heartbreaking way.
Initially, all photos, video and documents from the investigation were sealed by a temporary court order. Hackman’s estate and Arakawa’s mother asked a judge to extend that order, citing privacy concerns. The Associated Press, CBS News and CBS Studios intervened, saying in court filings that they would not disseminate images of the couple’s bodies.
The court cleared the way for the release of investigative records as long as there were no videos or photos of the couple’s bodies.
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