While Gene Hackman’s three children didn’t live nearby him in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and didn’t necessarily see him that often, a new report disputes the idea that they were estranged from their 95-year-old father or are gearing up for a legal fight over his $80 million estate.

In fact, according to the Daily Mail, the “French Connection” legend and his children were in regular contact before his death in February, though mostly by phone because they lived in difference states.

Sources close to the three children also dismiss speculation that they will challenge his will, which reportedly didn’t specifically name them as beneficiaries, according to the Daily Mail. That’s because the children have said they have all been adequately provided for via trusts that Hackman set up to safeguard his assets.

Hackman had the three children during his first marriage to Faye Maltese from 1956 to 1986: Christopher Hackman, 65, and daughters Leslie Hackman, 62, and Elizabeth Hackman, 58. In 1991, he married Arakawa, a classical pianist, and they eventually settled in Santa Fe, where they were active members of the community, with a wide circle of loyal friends, according to the Daily Mail reporter Guy Adams. 

Actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, leave a restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on March 28, 2024. (Imago/Zuma Press/TNS) 

The Daily Mail report comes a day after a New Mexico judge, Matthew Wilson, ruled that investigative records from the deaths of Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, can be made public. The judge also said that authorities can release redacted body camera videos and other images, though none of the images can show their bodies, the Associated Press reported.

All three children were represented at Monday’s hearing by an attorney who highlighted the trauma they could endure from the public release of certain body-camera footage. An attorney for the Hackman family estate also argued for the family’s right to privacy, saying that Hackman and Arakawa took great pains to stay out of the spotlight in Santa Fe and that the right to control the use of their names and likenesses should extend to their estate in death.

The media’s interest in the the investigate reports and images is due to the strange and tragic set of circumstances surrounding the couple’s deaths. They both died in their $3.8 million Santa Fe home, though at separate times and for different reasons. Their bodies also remained undiscovered for more than a week until Feb. 26, when a handyman and building contractor, who’d worked regularly for them for 16 years, grew concerned that they had not been in touch and decided to visit the property.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department never suspected foul play but still launched an investigation because of the unusual circumstances of the couple’s deaths.

The medical examiner’s office eventually concluded that Hackman probably died on or around Feb. 18 from cardiovascular disease, with an “advanced” case of Alzheimer’s disease as a contributing factor.

But it appears that Hackman was alone in the house with his wife’s body for nearly a week after she died suddenly from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. At some point, Arakawa had become infected with the potentially fatal hantavirus, which is carried by mice or rats that often live in sheds or attics. It is believed she died on or around Feb. 12, after she failed to bring Hackman into a doctor’s office for an echocardiogram.

Meanwhile, the body of their beloved 12-year-old dog Zinna was found dead in a crate, where she had likely been placed for her safety while recovering from surgery. The Associated Press reported that Zinna likely died of dehydration and starvation after Arakawa died. The couple’s two other dogs were found alive on the property.

The Daily Mail’s Adams also said that people shouldn’t read too much into reports that no one has yet claimed the bodies of Hackman and Arakawa, a month after they were found dead.

“I gather the time delay is not unusual and preparations for a family funeral are well under way,” wrote Adams, who spent a week in Santa Fe and spoke to people who knew the couple and their family.

In his report, Adams found no evidence to suggest that the two-time Oscar winner spent his final years as a recluse in his home in a gated community, guarded by his protective younger second wife. On the contrary, Adams found that the couple co-owned and helped run a variety of local businesses, including restaurants and interior design stores. They also attended fundraisers for local nonprofits and attended “Fourth of July” parties and other local events.

Christopher Hackman also appeared to have had an active role in helping his father run some of his investments and was with Arakawa’s mother, Yoshie Foster, on the day that both received word that she and his father were dead.

In interviews, Hackman had spoken of his regrets about being frequently absent when his children were growing up, but Adams found that his relationship with his children had warmed “considerably” in recent years. The children also spoke highly of their stepmother, whom they knew took good care of their father, Adams added.

There’s one strange circumstance in the couple’s final months that is likely to remain unresolved, Adams reported. It has to do with whether they were being stalked.

Arakawa’s hairdresser, Christopher Torres, told investigators that his client was “frazzled” in the weeks before her death, expressing concern about seeing a man parked outside the gate of their neighborhood and then being followed by him on two separate occasions.

“One occasion is when they went White Rock (a nearby community),” Torres said, according to Fox News. They went and had lunch there and the guy followed them from (outside of their gated community), followed them all the way to White Rock. She said, ‘Christopher, I’m surprised that security didn’t (know) how he got there … because when we left, I noticed that this car had followed us from the residence to White Rock.’”

The man may have been an unusually obsessive Hackman fan, because he approached the couple, pulled out a folder of photos of the “Unforgiven” actor and asked him to sign them. But Arakawa told Torres she found this behavior strange, as well as invasive, because Santa Fe is “not a place of paparazzi,” and the couple usually aren’t bothered by fans. She said she told them man he “needed to have more respect.”

Arakawa also told Torres that the man followed them to a different location at another time and offered them a bottle of wine, which Arakawa said they declined.

Adams reported that investigators made some effort to track down the mystery man after learning about him, including by trawling through extensive CCTV footage. But the police investigation was called off on March 7 after autopsy results came in and showed that the couple’s deaths were due to natural causes.