Months prior to the tragic deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa, the couple experienced two unsettling encounters with a man, as reported by Arakawa’s hairstylist.
Fox News Digital acquired and published bodycam footage that revealed how “frazzled” Arakawa felt after being followed by this individual on two distinct occasions in December 2024. She informed her hairstylist that she had never encountered the man before.
The hairstylist recounted, “She told me that a man had parked outside their gate and followed them on two separate occasions.” Christopher, the hairstylist, shared this information with law enforcement based on Arakawa’s account.
The first incident occurred when the couple visited White Rock for lunch. “On one occasion, they went to White Rock, and the man followed them from their gated community all the way there,” Christopher explained. “She remarked, ‘I’m surprised that security didn’t notice how he got there… because when we left, I realized that this car had followed us from our residence to White Rock.’”
Arakawa mentioned to Christopher that the man had “pulled out a folder of photos of her husband and wanted him to sign them.” However, Christopher expressed his concerns to the police, stating, “That’s so strange because Santa Fe isn’t known for having paparazzi or anything like that.”
The second encounter escalated the situation. The man followed them to another location and offered the couple a bottle of wine, which they declined. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh, Betsy, that’s alarming. You should not have approached this person. This makes me uneasy,’” Christopher added. “He knew what car they drove, which is the frightening part.”
In response to these events, a lawyer representing the Hackman estate, Julia Peters, filed a petition in the state District Court in Santa Fe to prevent the medical investigator and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office from disclosing footage.
The Hackman estate has obtained a temporary restraining order. This order prohibits the release of records pertaining to the deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa-Hackman. It specifically instructs the Office of the Medical Investigator and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, along with their agents, assigns, and employees, to refrain from disclosing any photographs or videos that depict the bodies of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa-Hackman, as well as the interior of their residence, through the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) or any other means.
Furthermore, the Office of the Medical Investigator is also barred from disclosing the couple’s autopsy reports or any related documents as stipulated in the order. A hearing has been scheduled for March 31. According to officials in New Mexico, Arakawa passed away from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, while Hackman’s death was attributed to hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease being a significant contributing factor.
