Gene Hackman's dog seen 'guarding' wife Betsy Arakawa's body in newly released body camera footage

One of the Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman’s dogs was seen guarding Betsy Arakawa, Hackman’s wife’s body in a recently released police body cam footage from when the authorities were responding to the couple’s Santa Fe residence.

The body cam footage was released by TMZ on April 15, and it shows the police’s movements when they found the couple’s bodies at their secluded home on February 26.

In the video, an officer can be heard pointing to a dog sitting next to Arakawa’s body in a bathroom and saying:

“He’s right here, he’s guarding her…he seems pretty friendly”

According to Daily Mail, Hackman and Arakawa had three dogs, Zinna, Bear, and Nikita. The German shepherd, Bear, and Akita-shepherd mix Nikita survived, and one of the dogs was seen sitting guard near Arakawa when the cops found her body.

Zinna, a 12-year-old kelpie mix, was found in a crate near Arakawa’s body and had likely died of starvation, according to USA Today.

Zinna’s blurred crate was also featured in the distressing body cam footage. The other surviving dog was in the exterior of the premises and could be heard in the background of the body cam footage when he barked. One of the officers responding to the barks asked:

“Another dog?”

Another police officer, while responding to her, said:

“Yeah. He’s running around.”

Later, the officers reach the area of the house where Gene Hackman’s body was discovered. Two officers can be seen staring silently at the scene, no doubt affected by the state the Hackman residence was discovered in.

According to a report by Daily Mail, the police were initially unable to find Hackman. As per the report, it was one of the couple’s surviving dogs who had led the police to Hackman’s body in the mudroom.

The Daily Mail reported that when investigators took over the scene, Bear was initially taken by Santa Fe County Animal Control, according to Joey Padilla of Santa Fe Tails, a pet service owner who knew the couple. Nikita, who was initially skittish and eluded the police, was later captured by Padilla, who then took both the dogs to his facility, as per the report.

Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa were laid to rest in a private memorial

It took authorities weeks of investigations to ascertain that Betsy Arakawa died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a disease caused by contact with rodent droppings, probably on February 11, as per USA Today. The news outlet also confirmed that investigators determined that Gene Hackman, who was suffering from Alzheimer's and heart disease, most likely did not know his wife had died and could not care for himself. According to USA Today, Hackman most likely died a week after his wife, as his pacemaker last showed activity on February 18.

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On April 15, People Magazine reported that around two months after the couple’s bodies were discovered, a private memorial was held for Hackman and Arakawa. The memorial was attended by close friends and family only, with Hackman’s three children with actress Faye Maltese, Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie also in attendance, as per People Magazine.

Meanwhile, Daily Mail reported that Joey Padilla said in a statement that his pet service had found new homes for Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s surviving dogs, Bear and Nikita, with the consent of the couple’s estate attorney.

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