Davis police on Wednesday released an audio recording of the 911 call that preceded the discovery of a grisly murder-suicide scene on Glacier Drive.
Investigators say they’ve confirmed the voice is that of Joseph Andrew Hein, a helicopter pilot who on March 26 twice shot his roommate Whitney Joypauline Engler, a fourth-year UC Davis veterinary student who was due to graduate in May.
But before turning the gun on himself, Hein placed a cell-phone call to 911, reporting in calm, matter-of-fact language that police would find two gunshot victims inside the West Davis house, according to police.
The following is a transcript of the call, which came into the Police Department’s dispatch center at 6:55 p.m. and lasted just under a minute. The recording is available on The Davis Enterprise’s website, www.davisenterprise.com.
Dispatcher: “Davis 911 emergency.”
Caller: “Hi there. I need a, um, ambulance and a squad car at 2210 Glacier Drive, Davis, California.”
Dispatcher: “And what’s going on?”
Caller: “Uh, there’s two gunshot victims, a 27-year-old female and a 23-year-old male.”
Dispatcher: “Who had the gun?”
Caller: “Uh, the 23-year-old male.”
Dispatcher: “And do you know who they are?”
Caller: “Uh, yup — they live there.”
Dispatcher: “OK. Are they alive?”
Caller: “Uh, no, I don’t believe so.”
Dispatcher: “And who are you?”
Caller: “My name is Joseph.”
Dispatcher: “And how did you find out about this, Joseph?”
Caller: “Uh, I just walked in on it. But that’s all I can say now. But uh, send that ASAP — we’re less than a mile away from Sutter Davis.”
Dispatcher: “OK. Can you stay on scene, Joseph, until I get officers and an ambulance out there?”
Caller: “I will be on scene.”
Dispatcher: “And how did you get the information that they were there again?”
Caller: “I have to go now. Sorry. Goodbye.”
Dispatcher: “OK, could I get your callback number?” (Call disconnects.)
Two weeks later, Davis police say they still don’t know for certain what prompted Hein to end two lives that night. Families of the pair say they had been friends for about two years and roommates since December, but were not romantically involved, nor was there any animosity in the relationship.
However, investigators believe Engler had already died by the time Hein placed the 911 call, and that he shot himself a short time later. A witness in the area reported hearing two gunshots in close succession that evening, followed by a third shot about 15 minutes later.
“We’re assuming (both deaths) had occurred before our arrival, and our arrival was fairly quick,” within several minutes of the call, Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel said.
Davis police released the 911 recording in response to Public Records Act requests from The Enterprise and other media, with the hope that it leads to a greater understanding by the public “of how serious these situations are,” Pytel said.
“Listening to it explains why we did what we did,” Pytel said, referring to the large-scale law enforcement presence at the scene that included a SWAT team, bomb squad technicians, police snipers and multiple armored vehicles.
Hein’s calmness suggested not a hoax but rather a possible involvement in the crime, according to Pytel.
“Normally when people call 911, especially after a critical incident, they’re pretty wound up — to the point that we’re having to calm them down in order to get information,” Pytel said. But in this case, “the tone that was used and the actual words that were used, it had the ring of a setup.”
Information that Hein had multiple firearms registered in his name, and just months earlier had pictured a large-caliber assault rifle on his Facebook page, raised concerns of a “suicide by cop” scenario in which a subject provokes police into using deadly force.
“It just seemed like he wasn’t going to kill himself, and he wanted us to do it,” Pytel said. “None of us have really heard a call like that. ”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8408. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene