A chilling 911 call reporting the death of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his longtime wife has been made public, revealing a chaotic scene as a discoverer screamed and pleaded with authorities to send help.
The call was made by a “community caretaker” who discovered the “mummified” remains of Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, his wife of 24 years. The couple was discovered on the floor of their $3.3 million home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“Damn, damn!” a man shouted into the phone. “I think we just found a deceased person inside the house,” he continued, sniffling while two dogs barked in the background. One dog was found dead alongside the couple, according to initial media reports.
Asked to estimate the age of the bodies, the man said it was hard to tell.
“A female and a, a male, probably,” he went on. “I don’t know, sir, just send somebody up here quick. The house is closed, it’s locked… I can’t go in, but I see she’s laying on the floor.
“They’re not moving. Just send somebody up here,” he replied when a 911 operator suggested he knock on the window to see if they were sleeping.
Hackman and Arakawa were discovered partially mummified, according to the Daily Mail, likely a result of Santa Fe’s cool, drier wintertime air. Skin and other tissue on the body was unusually well-preserved for such a late discovery.
