Gene Hackman and his wife were inside their home, not moving … and the sight of them got the 911 caller very emotional, TMZ has learned.

We’ve obtained the audio of the 911 call that led to police discovering the bodies of Hackman and Betsy Arakawa … and, an unnamed caretaker of the area can be heard frantically pleading for the dispatcher to send someone to the house.

The call starts with the caretaker, whose name is redacted, saying he believes they’ve just stumbled across one or two dead bodies — he seems unsure at the time of the call — and they need immediate assistance.

As you know … Gene and his wife were found dead in their home Wednesday afternoon — though the sheriff’s office didn’t announce their deaths until later in the evening.

Santa Fe detectives applied for a search warrant to thoroughly investigate the house after the bodies were discovered … and, in it, a detective wrote he believes “the death of the two deceased individuals to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation because the reporting party found the front door of the residence unsecured and opened, deputies observed a healthy dog running loose on the property, another healthy dog near the deceased female, a deceased dog laying 10-15 feet from the deceased female in a closet of the bathroom, the heater being moved, the pill bottle being opened and pills scattered next to the female, the male decedent being located in a separate room of the residence, and no obvious signs of a gas leak.”

Pills were strewn about the counter and a space heater was found near Betsy’s body, which authorities say showed some signs of mummification. Hackman was found nearby and appears to have fallen based on where his sunglasses were next to him.

Hackman was 95 and Arakawa was 63.