A Santa Fe judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the release of pictures of the bodies of actor Gene Hackman and his wife.
A representative for the estates of the Oscar-winner, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 65, filed the request, which the court approved Monday.
A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for March 31.
The bodies of the Oscar winner and his wife were found earlier this month in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home.
The issued restraining order also includes images of the interior of the couple’s home.
Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease about a week after a rare, rodent-borne disease took the life of his wife. The screen legend, in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, apparently was unaware that his wife was dead.
Hackman was found in the home’s entryway, and Arakawa was found in a bathroom.
Their beloved dog Zinna starved to death inside a kennel sometime after Arakawa died.
All three bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet.
Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.
Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including The French Connection, Hoosiers and Superman from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
The pair led a private life after moving to Santa Fe decades ago. A representative for the couple’s estate has cited that privacy in seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports related to their deaths, especially photographs and video. It will be up to a state district judge to consider that request.
The couple’s German shepherd, named Bear, survived along with a second dog named Nikita, according to Joey Padilla, owner of the Santa Fe Tails pet care, where Hackman and Arakawa often boarded their dogs. Both are being cared for.
Following days of intense media attention and public speculation surrounding the couple’s mysterious passing, investigators last week finally determined the cause of death and revealed Hackman and Arakawa had likely been lying dead in their home for up to two weeks before being discovered.
Autopsy results confirmed Hackman died of cardiovascular disease with advanced Alzheimer’s as a contributing factor around February 18. His wife is believed to have died several days earlier on February 11, of the rodent-borne disease hantavirus.
An investigation into the deaths is still being completed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, who are using information gained from cell phones gathered at the residence in addition to last contacts made to finish the timeline of events, according to the AP.
‘The case is considered active until we have that information to tie up the timeline,’ Denise Womack Avila, a spokesperson for the sheriff, said, according to the AP.
Police, paramedics and the Fire Department rushed to the home on February 26 after a caretaker made the grisly discovery of Arakawa’s dead body.