logo
Gene Hackman judge rules on death scene images after family argues ‘grotesque' pictures could cause trauma

Gene Hackman judge rules on death scene images after family argues ‘grotesque' pictures could cause trauma

Fox News31-03-2025

Photos and video showing Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa Hackman's deceased bodies along with audio discussing the topic will not be released to the public, a judge ruled Monday.
However, the judge ruled the final autopsy report, toxicology report and depictions of the deceased animal could be released to the public. Lawyers for Hackman's estate argued the dissemination of images, video or audio showing or discussing the deceased would cause an "unnecessary media frenzy" during Monday's court hearing.
"What we're really talking of, Judge, is my client's father, who lay dead for some amount of time, and all of the grotesque pictures that go along with that and the conversations of deputies discussing that," a lawyer for Hackman's family said. "There is no limit to the trauma that could cause my clients for years to come with that information, as the media publicist already testified to, would likely show up on the internet or in podcasts etc."
Hackman's estate called the actor's longtime publicist to testify to the couple's level of privacy maintained during his lifetime. Susan Madore revealed Hackman would only allow two hours of press time for each movie he made. The Oscar-winning actor would often decline image and likeness requests for "commercial usages" and "news programming."
"I think that for anything like that to be out in the public, any entity can use that however they want in perpetuity," Madore said during the hearing. "He would have never agreed in his life for that to happen. So, why would you think he would agree to it in his death?"
However, lawyers for the county unsuccessfully argued that the right to privacy does not continue once someone dies. "It does not carry on."
"It seems to be clear from the law that, in fact, the right of privacy, does not simply succeed in death, and therefore the estate does not have the right to bring a claim for loss of privacy after the death has occurred," Greg Williams said in closing arguments.
The court granted a temporary block of the release on March 17, pending the March 31 hearing on the matter. Hackman's estate specifically wanted any records regarding showing the couple's bodies or the interior of their home, along with autopsy reports or death investigation reports, to be blocked.
New Mexico's open records law blocks public access to sensitive images, including depictions of dead bodies. Experts also say some medical information is not considered public record under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.
Hackman's estate representative, Julia Peters, emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and the potential for their dissemination by the media in a bid to block them from being released.
While Hackman's estate moved to have an array of records blocked, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department did release bodycam footage connected to the case. The footage included an interview with Betsy's hairstylist in which he claimed she was fearful of being followed in the weeks leading up to her death.
"She mentioned to me that there was a man that had parked outside of their gate and followed them," her hairstylist, a man named Christopher, told law enforcement. "On two separate occasions. One occasion is when they went to White Rock. They went and had lunch there and the guy followed them from parked [outside of their gated community], followed them all the way to White Rock."
WATCH: BODYCAM FOOTAGE REVEALS GENE HACKMAN'S WIFE FEARED BEING FOLLOWED
The man approached Hackman and his wife with a folder full of photos of the actor.
On a separate occasion, the same man followed them to a different location. He had offered the Hackmans a bottle of wine, Betsy told Christopher. They declined to accept the gift.
WATCH: LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONDS TO GENE HACKMAN'S HOME
Authorities responded to a 911 call on Feb. 26 and discovered Hackman and Betsy deceased inside their Santa Fe home.
Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya initially told Fox News Digital that authorities believed Hackman and Betsy died in a similar timeframe. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department later confirmed during a press conference that Betsy likely died on or around Feb. 11. After reviewing additional phone records, authorities noted that Betsy had used the device to make calls on Feb. 12. Hackman most likely died about one week later.
Betsy died from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, New Mexico officials told reporters. Meanwhile, Hackman died from hypertensive atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributing factor. It's plausible that the actor was home alone with Betsy's deceased body before he passed.
Feb. 18 was the last day activity was recorded on Hackman's pacemaker. The device noted "abnormal rhythm of atrial fibrillation." Hackman's autopsy showed "severe heart disease, including multiple surgical procedures involving the heart, evidence of prior heart attacks, and severe changes of the kidneys due to chronic high blood pressure."
"Examination of the brain showed advanced Alzheimer's disease as well as blood vessel changes in the brain secondary to chronic high blood pressure," according to Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Heather Jarrell.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

After hanging up his Speedos, Tom Daley is throwing himself into dad life
After hanging up his Speedos, Tom Daley is throwing himself into dad life

Yahoo

time38 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

After hanging up his Speedos, Tom Daley is throwing himself into dad life

Doing a choreographed dive into a pool from 10 meters above would scare most people. But for Tom Daley, who won five Olympic medals doing just that, it's his job at home that frightens him the most. 'Everything scares me about parenthood because [your kids are] all you think about,' he tells Yahoo Life. The 31-year-old former British diver and his husband, Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, are fathers to two boys: Robert 'Robbie' Ray, who turns 7 this month, and Phoenix Rose, 2. Now that Daley has left Olympic diving behind, announcing his retirement after the 2024 Summer Games, he's trying to navigate what it means to parent in this new chapter of his life. 'For me, being a dad is all about being present, being there to play, being there to love, being able to be completely emotionally available,' he says. 'To be there to pick your kids back up when they fall, and to encourage and support them and make them feel like they're invincible and protecting that feeling for as long as possible before the world tells 'em otherwise.' While Daley is no longer competing on the Olympic stage, he hasn't retired retired. He continues to be a media personality — this month releasing the documentary 1.6 Seconds, which follows his sports achievements and powerful backstory, including the death of his own dad — and is otherwise focused on his knitting brand, Made With Love by Tom Daley. Husband Black, meanwhile, is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Both have work and travel schedules that Daley says can be tricky to juggle alongside the demands of parenting. 'That guilt as a working parent when you have to travel is a lot,' he says. 'One of us always has to stay behind, obviously, to be able to be there with the kids, or the kids come with us. … It's this dance that becomes really quite a challenge.' But there's more flexibility compared to when Daley was diving. 'That was so structured and [there was] so much routine and so many goals and [it was] very one thing to the next,' he says. 'There would be occasions where I'd miss the wake-up with the boys or I would see 'em just before I would leave for training. Whereas now I'm around a lot more.' He does still travel for work, including making trips back from the family's home in Los Angeles to his native U.K. 'I do have to leave occasionally, but when I'm there, I'm there,' Daley says. 'And I think that's the real difference, is that I can be really present and really engaged in everything that they're doing. I can go running around on the weekends with them without worrying about being too exhausted for training the next day.' Robbie, for one, understood his dad's job as a diver and even looked forward to Daley (known at home as 'Papa') taking trips for it. 'I would always bring him back a Lego,' says Daley. As for Black's job as a filmmaker, the boys don't have a grasp on what that means quite yet. 'I think the kids really like to see us happy, and they like to see us doing the thing that we love to do because that's what they hope to do when they're older. They want to be able to do something that they love to do,' says Daley, noting that he won't put pressure on either of them to go into sports. 'If they want to, great. … I'm very much happy to let them try as many things as they want to show interest in, and then we see what happens from there.' As an LGBTQ couple who welcomed their boys through the surrogacy process, Daley and Black might be thought of as an archetype of the 'modern family.' But as Daley points out, there's no real ideal for family dynamics in 2025. 'What is a normal family right now, and what is the best dynamic of a family? I think as long as the child is loved and cared for, that's the most important,' says Daley. 'In order for LGBT people to have a family, it takes a lot of planning. So every child is so extremely loved, wanted, cared for.' He's a believer that parenting 'takes a village' and values their surrogate's role in that as well. 'We had the most magical experience. Our surrogate, who doesn't want us naming her, has become a dear friend, [as well as] her husband and her kids. [She] is someone that was so selfless to be able to help us have our dream family.' Despite the chaos that fills a home with two young children, Daley says he finds the most joy in 'the moments where they just come over to you and give you a hug, unsolicited, and they just want to sit with you and be with you 'cause you are their person. I think that for me is the most magical thing.' And it's not lost on Daley that he was only 7 when he started diving. 'Robbie's getting to those ages where I was starting to do those things,' notes Daley, who credits his late father for allowing him to chase that dream. 'It's very surreal to think.'

Paramount Global CFO Naveen Chopra Exits to Join Roblox
Paramount Global CFO Naveen Chopra Exits to Join Roblox

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Paramount Global CFO Naveen Chopra Exits to Join Roblox

Paramount Global chief financial officer Naveen Chopra is exiting his post at the media company to join gaming platform company Roblox as CFO. Following Chopra's departure from Paramount, Andrew Warren — who currently serves as strategic adviser to the office of the CEO (working under co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins) and is himself the former CFO of Discovery Communications — will assume the additional role of executive VP and interim CFO at Paramount. The CFO shuffle at Paramount comes as its $8 billion merger deal with Skydance Media is currently in limbo, pending FCC approval. More from Variety Navid Mahmoodzadegan to Take CEO Reins at Top Media Investment Bank Moelis & Co. CBS News' Scott Pelley: Settlement With Trump Would be 'Very Damaging' to CBS and Paramount Paramount Global, With Skydance Deal and Trump Lawsuit Pending, Names Three New Board Members for Election at July 2 Annual Meeting Per an SEC filing Monday by Paramount, Chopra notified the company of his decision to resign from his position effective June 27. Chopra will join Roblox as CFO, effective June 30, 2025, the gaming company announced. 'Naveen's experience as CFO at leading companies equips him with invaluable financial and strategic acumen to foster Roblox's growth,' Roblox CEO and co-founder David Baszucki said in a statement. 'His engineering foundation further enhances his ability to align technical operations with financial strategy, making him an ideal leader for our ongoing innovation and success.' Warren, prior to his current position at Paramount and before his previous role as CFO at Discovery Communications, served as CFO of STX Entertainment and the NBCU Television Group. As Paramount's strategic adviser to the office of the CEO, he works closely with senior leadership on financial and strategic decisions, according to the company. 'We thank Naveen for his leadership role during a dynamic period of transformation and growth,' Paramount co-CEOs Cheeks, McCarthy and Robbins said in a statement Monday. 'We are excited to partner with Andy, who has been our strategic adviser, in his new, expanded role as interim CFO and we are confident that his deep financial expertise and familiarity with our business make him exceptionally well-suited to step into this position.' Best of Variety 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Animated Program — Can Netflix Score Big With 'Arcane,' 'Devil May Cry' and the Final Season of 'Big Mouth?'

Celebrities react to LA protest against ICE detention policies
Celebrities react to LA protest against ICE detention policies

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Celebrities react to LA protest against ICE detention policies

Following Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, artists have been speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation raids and offering support to protestors in LA. As reported by Euronews, Trump deployed another 2,100 National Guard members and 700 US Marines, in what the authorities have dubbed Task Force 51 meant to "provide continuous coverage of the area" as unrest in Los Angeles continues. Many celebrities posted messages on social media supporting the protestors and criticising the National Guard's deployment, including Eva Longoria and Mark Ruffalo. Longoria took to Instagram to express her frustration and described the actions as 'Un-American', while Ruffalo shared a lengthy message to Instagram with the caption: "When you have working class people going after the poor and other working class people you know you are living in an oligarchy." He added: "The billionaire up at the top is stealing you blind, and you are worried about the poorest of the poor ruining your life? You are pointing your guns in the wrong direction... The president is a grifter." Ruffalo's post went viral, racking up to 200,000 likes—including from other celebrities, including Jennifer Garner and Halle Berry. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong posted a scene from one of the LA protests to his Instagram over the weekend, which he captioned with a middle finger emoji and an ice cube emoji, while Tyler, The Creator wrote on his Instagram Story: 'FUCK ICE.' Singer and actress Reneé Rapp also condemned ICE's actions, writing: 'Fuck ICE fuck this administration fuck all of yall who are complicit in ensuring that this happened this is a fucking disgrace.' One of the most notable reactions came from Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Finneas, brother of Billie Eilish, who attended the 'very peaceful protests' himself and claimed to have been teargassed by authorities. 'Tear-gassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown. They're inciting this,' he wrote on Instagram. Finneas also reposted a clip that appeared to show a reporter, Lauren Tomasi, being shot in the leg with a rubber bullet by law enforcement while she was reporting from the scene. Elsewhere, Grammy-winning rapper Doechii spoke out against the immigration raids in Los Angeles at the 2025 BET Awards last night. During her speech, Doechii said that though she was 'honoured' by the award, she wanted to 'address what is happening right now outside of the building'. 'There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order,' she continued, citing Trump's deployment of the National Guard. 'Trump is using military forces to stop a protest,' Doechii added. 'I want you all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us. What type of government is that?' The heated situation has also prompted a fierce political backlash. Governor Gavin Newsom took to X to announce his plans to sue the federal government over the National Guard deployment, calling it 'an unconstitutional act.' "This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn't just apply to CA (California). It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We're suing him."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store