911 Call Revealed in Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa Death Investigation

Audio from the emotional 911 call made by a maintenance worker after discovering the bodies of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, has surfaced. The couple’s partially mummified bodies were found alongside a deceased dog at their home in New Mexico Wednesday, with the employee who made the tragic discovery heard in audio obtained by TMZ frantically pleading with the dispatcher to “send somebody out here really quick.”

“I think we just found two or one deceased person inside the house,” the worker, who identified himself as the “subdivision’s caretaker” and made the discovery alongside another maintenance worker, said on the call, which came in at around 1:45 p.m. “There’s no one here. I’m going to wait for you at the gate. Please send somebody.”

The caller could be heard repeatedly saying “damn” as he urged the dispatcher to send authorities to the scene. He told the dispatcher that there appeared to be “a female and a male” inside the house, but he had “no idea” if they were “awake” or “breathing” because he was “not inside the house. It’s closed. It’s locked. I can’t go in, but I see them laying—she’s laying down from the window.” He also stated, “They’re not moving. Just send somebody out here really quick.”

Police who arrived at the scene shortly after the call discovered that “Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, and a dog were found deceased,” the county sheriff’s public information officer, Denise Womack-Avila, said. According to an affidavit, per a search warrant obtained by TMZ, Arakawa’s body was discovered in the home’s bathroom alongside a deceased dog. The deputy noted a “pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female.” Hackman, meanwhile, was found deceased in a separate room off the kitchen. The deputy suspected both of the deceased may have suddenly fallen.

Based on the bodies showing signs of “body decomposition,” “bloating” and “mummification,” per an affidavit obtained by CNN, authorities believe the couple had been deceased for “at least a day” before they were discovered Wednesday.

Although authorities initially stated that “foul play is not suspected a factor,” in an affidavit obtained, they said the circumstances surrounding the pair’s deaths are “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.” It was initially believed the pair may have died from carbon monoxide poisoning, but the affidavit stated that both the fire department and the New Mexico gas company inspected the property and found “no obvious signs of a gas leak.”

Hackman and Arakawa’s causes of death will be determined by the state Office of the Medical Investigator, officials said, per the Los Angeles Times. Authorities are awaiting full autopsy and toxicology reports, but said initial autopsy results showed there was no external trauma to either Hackman or Arakawa.