New footage from the moment officers discovered the bodies of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa at their Santa Fe home also reveals a heartbreaking and odd request from the star’s daughter
Chilling footage of the moment the bodies of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa were discovered by police at their New Mexico home reveals a heartbreaking request from the star’s daughter. The two-time Oscar winner was discovered dead at his Santa Fe home, alongside his wife of 34 years, Betsy, 65, on February 26 and details are continuing to emerge.
New footage of the moment officials from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office entered the home of the late Superman star shows a visibly worried handyman telling police that “something’s not right”. On entering the sprawling property, worth an estimated $3.8million (£2.9million), police discovered the bodies of two-time Oscar winner Gene, Betsy and their 12-year-old German Shephard dog, Zinna.
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Official reports state that Betsy, whose body was found in the bathroom, died of a rare virus spread by rats on or around February 11. Gene, meanwhile, is thought the have died around a week later from heart disease.
The body of Zinna, one of the couple’s three German Shepherds, was also found in a crate near to Betsy’s body, and local animal control later said there were signs of “partial mummification” and they believed Zinna had died of dehydration.
In a portion of the newly-released footage, which was obtained by TMZ, an officer from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s department is seen making a phone call to Gene’s daughter Elizabeth, asking for instructions on what to do with Zinna’s remains.
“They’re telling me that our animal control does crematory services there, is that something you want to do Elizabeth?,” he said during the phone call from his car.
Elizabeth then responds with a heartbreaking request, asking the detective to have the animal cremated and the ashes buried with her stepmum’s, before requesting animal control save a particularly sentimental item.
“I’m thinking cremate the dog and bury it with Betsy,” she said, before adding, “if the dog was wearing a collar, could you save that for me?”.
Joey Padilla, the owner of the local Santa Fe Tails pet care facility, has since revealed that Zinna was a returned shelter dog and had been an “incredible companion” to classical pianist Betsy, who married Gene in 1991. The Santa Fe Fire Department Chief Brian Moya also told USA Today that the couple’s other two surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita, helped authorities find the bodies of their owners after the property maintenance workers raised the alarm.
He told local media the dogs were running up to and barking at the first responders, before racing off in a different direction, adding : “They realised (the dog) was trying to say, ‘Hey, come over here! Come over here!’.”
Following news of the shock deaths, it has been reported that Elizabeth and her brother and sister, Christopher and Leslie, were not included in their father’s will, with his estimated £40million fortune set to go to Betsy. However, in the event of them dying within 90 days of each other, Betsy’s money was to be donated to charity.
A representative for Gene and Betsy’s estate has also reportedly tried to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports related to their deaths, citing concerns over privacy.
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