Body camera footage is released showing scene outside Gene Hackman’s home

Body-cam footage captured the scene outside the home of Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa, where they were found dead.

ALBUQUERQE, N.M. -- Authorities have released body camera footage from outside the home of Gene Hackman, where the actor and wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in late February.

The redacted footage shows deputies talking with the two workers who called authorities to report seeing someone lying on the floor inside the home. With no signs of forced entry or other evidence of suspicious circumstances, 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’s not right,” one of the workers said.

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

It was solved about a week later when 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.

A New Mexico court last week granted a temporary restraining order against the release of any photographs and video showing Hackman and his wife the inside of their home. Hackman’s estate had filed the petition to withhold images, citing the need to protect the family’s constitutional right to privacy in grief under the 14th Amendment.

Workers who had maintained the property talked to investigators about respecting Hackman and Arawaka’s privacy. One worker described Arawaka as a private person.

The body camera footage also shows brief sightings of one of the couple’s dogs running in the wooded hills on their property on the edge of Santa Fe. A man who identified himself to officers as a dog trainer who cared for the couple’s pet dogs said the couple were “nuts” about their dogs.

“There’s toys everywhere around the property,” he said.

In a separate video, Arakawa’s hairdresser told investigators that his client took the dogs with her everywhere and that the smallest one would often hang out inside the salon with them during her visits.

That dog was found inside a crate, not far from Arakawa’s body. A report obtained by The Associated Press from the state Department of Agriculture’s veterinary lab states the dog likely died from dehydration and starvation.

The actor’s daughter, Elizabeth Hackman, told authorities she wanted the dog that died to be cremated. Authorities put her in touch with the local animal shelter to talk about the options.

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By Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press

Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.