Gene Hackman’s estate has petitioned the court to block the release of autopsy reports, photographs, and police body-cam video captured at his home.
The partially mummified bodies of the 95-year-old actor and his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, were discovered at their New Mexico property late last month. It was determined that both Hackman and his wife had been deceased for a while before they were discovered.
Julia Peters, a representative for the estate of Hackman and Arakawa, urged a state district court in Santa Fe to seal records to protect the family’s right to privacy in grief under the 14th amendment, as The Guardian noted. Peters cited the potentially graphic nature of the images and video taken by responding officers, which would be widely circulated online if it became available to the media.
The petition noted that Hackman and Arakawa preferred a private life. It said…
