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The woman who discovered former NFL player Josh Mauro dead inside of an Arizona residence earlier this year heartbreakingly pleaded with law enforcement to send help his way as quickly as possibly, newly released 911 audio reveals.
The woman placed the call to authorities at around noon on April 23, stating that she was sure Mauro was “dead” on the floor of his Phoenix home.
“I need an ambulance now,” she said in the audio, which was obtained by the California Post on Wednesday.
The woman explained that while she, Mauro and their friend had been up late partying the night before, the ex-New York Giants defensive end was alive when she went to bed.
“Me and my friend are upstairs asleep and I woke up and he’s downstairs on the floor,” she said in the harrowing call. “And he’s blue. He’s blue.”
When the dispatcher asked the woman if Mauro had been using drugs, she said “we were drinking last night but that’s it.”
She also added that she was not sure if Mauro had been battling any health problems, noting they just recently “met him at work.”
“His lips are blue,” the woman added. “He’s gone.”
First responders got to the scene shortly after the call was placed, and a Phoenix Police Department case report stated investigators discovered Mauro deceased with “a white powdery substance” and a “rolled up dollar bill next to the powder” near his body. They also located a “bottle cap with white substance in it” as well as a syringe in a trash can inside the home, according to the report.
The PPD documents stated that at least one of the women at the house told officers at the scene that Mauro had been “on a bender for four days.”
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner eventually ruled Muaro had traces of “fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol, and their metabolites as well as cannabinoids and caffeine” in his system, and deemed his death to be an accidental overdose.
Mauro played in the NFL from 2014 to 2021, logging snaps for the Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants and Oakland Raiders.
He was 35 years old.