The contractor who found Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s decomposing bodies last month said he “knew something was wrong” with the couple.

Jesse Kesler, who had been employed by the two-time Oscar winner, aged 95, and his 65-year-old wife for a period of 16 years, stated that he attempted to arrange for a wellness check before coming across their deceased bodies at their residence in Santa Fe.

During an interview with Fox News, Kesler mentioned that he visited Hackman’s residence after not hearing from Arakawa for two weeks. He had been in regular contact with her, communicating every three days prior to this incident.

“We were getting pretty worried,” Kesler told the outlet. “We knew something was wrong.”

“We sought guidance from law enforcement on the procedure to follow. We initiated the wellness check process, requiring the involvement of a family member authorized to conduct such a check,” he explained.

However, despite his efforts in reaching Hackman’s family, Kesler said he was unable to get through. As a result, he decided to pay Hackman and Arakawa a visit himself.

“We couldn’t get hold of any family members…We were in the process of getting hold of a family member, and it was taking too long,” he said. “And finally, finally, I saw the security guard, and that’s when me and him went in.”

But the “French Connection” actor’s daughter, Leslie, told the outlet that she has never spoken to Kesler and was unaware of anyone looking to perform a wellness check on her famous dad.

“No one had reached out,” she said, adding that the authorities did not contact her about her father’s well-being until he was found dead.

Leslie’s response was echoed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, who told the outlet they were not contacted by anyone prior to February 26 — the day the discovery was made.

According to the Santa Fe medical examiner, Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare rat-borne respiratory disease.

Hackman, for his part, died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer’s disease as a significant contributing factor. 

One of their three dogs, which was in a crate recovering from surgery, died of starvation and dehydration, a state necropsy report has revealed.

Earlier this week, authorities investigating the couple’s death have proposed a new timeline of events after a Santa Fe doctor claimed that Arakawa called his clinic on February 12 — one day after police believed she died.

The claim, made by Dr. Josiah Child of Cloudberry Health in New Mexico, immediately cast doubt on the timeline of events brought forward by officials earlier this month.