The investigation into Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s deaths is still ongoing, but the autopsies were completed weeks ago. That’s how we learned that Arakawa passed away from the hantavirus, likely on February 12. Hackman passed away on the 18th, and their remains were not discovered until Feb. 26th. Their wills were revealed several weeks ago as well – even though Hackman had three adult children and some grandkids, he left everything to Arakawa, and she left most of what she had to Hackman and to charity. Which, to be fair, is quite common for spouses to leave all or most of their estate to each other. But there are two things everyone keeps catching on: Hackman’s kids were left out of the will AND they were so uninvolved with Hackman and Arakawa, they didn’t think anything when they didn’t hear from Gene and Betsy for weeks and none of the kids raised any alert. Well, here’s another sad piece of information: Gene and Betsy’s bodies are still unclaimed.
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy’s bodies are still unclaimed — more than a month after their tragic deaths, TMZ has learned.
TMZ reached out to the Office of the Medical Investigator in New Mexico, and they confirmed the list of unclaimed decedents is updated online every Monday. Gene and Betsy’s names appeared on the list on March 24, and they’re still there as of today.
Officials tell us it’s not unusual for bodies to remain unclaimed for a month after dying. It’s unclear why Gene and Betsy’s bodies remain unclaimed … but it’s possible the family is still making funeral arrangements or finalizing plans.
Gene has 3 kids — a son, Christopher, and two daughters, Leslie and Elizabeth. The sisters had spoken out in the press after the death of their dad — who left all of his Hollywood fortune to Betsy.
Hackman had spoken about his tough relationship with his kids, admitting over the years he wasn’t around much when Chris was growing up, but he did get closer to them in his later years.
Gene and Betsy’s bodies were discovered at their Santa Fe home on February 26 … one of their dogs was also found dead nearby.
I mean… this looks bad. All of it looks bad – I get that we don’t know how bad it got between Hackman and his kids and we don’t know the deepness of the estrangements. But Gene’s son Christopher hired a lawyer weeks ago to contest his father’s will and get what he can from Hackman’s estate. And none of the kids thought to, you know, claim the bodies and give Gene and Betsy a funeral? Good god.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
