New bodycam footage shows Gene Hackman‘s panicked dog running around his garden on the day the actor and his wife were found dead at their home.
One of the couple’s staffers is seen trying to coax the distressed animal towards them shortly after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65 were discovered.
He throws several treats before what appears to be the couple’s Akita-shepherd mix Nikita briefly appears on the hillside before escaping.
‘She take off again?’ the police officer asks as he approaches to get a better look.
‘She must be hungry,’ one of the workers replies.
Hackman and his wife were found dead at their Santa Fe, New Mexico residence on February 26.
It later emerged the star had died from heart disease and Alzheimer’s a week after Arakawa, who was his care giver, succumbed to hantavirus.
The body of their other dog, a kelpie mix name Zinna, was found locked in a crate near to where Arakawa was lying having died of dehydration and starvation.
The couple owned two other pets, Nikita and a German Shepherd named Bear.
Both dogs were eventually caught, but had to be rehomed separately.
An autopsy report revealed that Zinna died with an empty stomach after being crated following a vet appointment.
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.
Police believe the late actor died around February 18 at from severe heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s disease as a ‘significant’ contributing factor.
Officials with the New Mexico medical investigator’s office said Arakawa died a week before Hackman from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is a severe respiratory illness caused by contact with infected rodents.
The couple were discovered lying dead in separate rooms of their home.
Hackman was found in the home’s entryway, and Arakawa was found in a bathroom.
Investigators initially ruled the deaths as suspicious, but noted there were no signs of forced entry or anything in disarray.
The bodies were discovered in a state of partial mummification at their $3.3 million mansion.
A fan had fallen near Arakawa, who was also surrounding by a scattering of prescription pills which suggested a fall to investigators.
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.
Another legal battle could be on the horizon as Hackman’s children wait to learn the details of their father’s last wishes.
Weeks after autopsies on Hackman and his wife were completed, it is still unclear if their remains will be buried in New Mexico, where the couple has lived for decades, or transported across state lines.
Hackman’s three children — Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie — live in California.
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