Man Calls 911 Because Of Smell In House, Operator Horrified To Hear The Cause

An Indiana man called 911 to get some help with his “rough” day. He was growing more and more concerned about the stink in his house. When the operator asked him about the cause of the smell, his answer sent the police scrambling.

911 operators get plenty of unusual calls. People contact them for almost any problem. Often, they have to deal with strangers who have trouble changing a light bulb or need directions to the grocery store. Sometimes operators have to give life-saving information to someone in serious danger.



You never know who might be calling 911, and you never know what they might be calling about. An Indiana 911 operator learned this recently when a man called the emergency service. Dwight Shotts was seeking 911 for some help. He explained to the operator that he was having “a rough one.”

The dispatcher tried to find out what was going on. Shotts explained his bad day was coming from the fact that his house was stinking up. That can be pretty rough, but it’s not something you’d call 911 over. He explained that the smell was coming from a man he shot and killed a week before. Shotts, not sure what to do, left the body in his bathtub.

He went on with his life — for a week — before he decided to do anything about it. I guess he would have left him there, had the body not started to smell.

Instead of rushing over to his house with some Febreze, the police arrested Shotts for murder.

An Indiana man was arrested this week after telling a 911 operator that he was having a “rough” day because the dead body in his bathtub now “stinks.”

Dwight Shotts, 42, was arrested on Monday after he allegedly called the police to admit to the murder of 35-year-old Anthony Cline, WTXF reported.

According to court documents cited in the report, Shotts called 911 and told the operator that he was having “a rough one.” The reason he gave? “There’s a guy dead in my house.”

He proceeded to tell dispatch that there was “an altercation” that resulted in him shooting the man.

“I didn’t know what to do. I panicked, put him in the tub, and now he’s been in the tub, and now he stinks. I don’t know what to do,” Shotts is quoted as saying during the call. He added that the body had been there for “a week.” [Source: Fox News]

What kind of person would leave a body in his tub for a week? If this was some sort of terrible argument gone wrong, the best thing Shotts could have done was call the cops ASAP. Instead, he was living, in a house, with a dead body, for seven days.

I think he has bigger problems than just the smell of a rotting corpse. The dispatcher said the man was crying and seemed suicidal. Clearly, he was deeply troubled and needed serious help. According to reports, the two men were fighting over the purchase of pills.

IMPD reportedly found Anthony Cline dead inside Shotts’ bathtub. The coroner’s office said he died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Detectives transported Shotts to the homicide office where he reportedly told police he was purchasing $500 worth of oxycodone from Cline.

Police said at the homicide office, Shotts recanted his confession and said a shooter killed Cline to collect “monies owed.” He told police he was scared of the shooter and that’s why he did not call 911 on the day of the murder. [Source: Fox 59]

The police weren’t buying his altered story. The ironically named Shotts has been charged with Cline’s murder.
Adam Casalino

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