The Tennessee Star on Thursday obtained audio from the Washington County Emergency Communications District (WCECD) in response to a Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request of a 911 call placed on February 16, 2020, in which a woman identifying herself as the wife of independent Tennessee gubernatorial candidate David Hatley reported that he had told her he had taken pills in an attempt to end his life. Hatley did not deny being the subject of the 911 call when reached by The Star.
The woman, whose name matches public records about Hatley’s second wife, claimed that she left their child at Hatley’s home earlier that morning, but Hatley contacted her after she left church, when she told the dispatcher that Hatley told her he decided to commit suicide.
“My husband is threatening suicide, and has sent out a suicide letter, and I need someone to check on him, please,” said the woman. “He just called me and told me he’s taken all these pills and it’s over with.”
The woman told the dispatcher she was in the process of divorcing Hatley, and claimed he had threatened to end his life before, “but this time he’s written out a letter to everybody.”
Asked by the dispatcher to provide more details, she stated, “He called me and told me to check my email and asked me to not screw over the kids, that he’s taken all these pills, and he’s killing himself and it’s already done. And then he hung up, and I read the email, and it said he’s at work.”
The woman proceeded to identify “work” as Hatley’s business, LPI Inc. She additionally provided the Johnson City address where it continues to operate, as well as a residential address that is owned by the David Elmer Hatley Living Trust.
Asked about the February 2020 incident, Hatley provided a statement to The Star in which he accused U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) of being responsible for the emergence of the audio.
“As a voter I’m ashamed of our US Senator, as a candidate however, I’m not surprised by anything Marsha does. As a husband and a father, I’m disgusted. As I’ve said many times during this campaign, I’ve had trials and difficulties during my life,” Hatley told The Star.
“I’ve come through them a better man, a better Christian and a better leader. No amount of trash from Marsha Blackburn will stop what we are building. I know that the voters will see this for what it is; a career politician who is cruel, desperate and disgusting. She is slinging mud instead of talking about your future,” the candidate stated.
Hatley did not directly address whether police contacted him in February 2020, or whether the incident described by the caller occurred, when asked by The Star.
The independent gubernatorial candidate also did not reference the previous threats to end his life described by the woman to the 911 dispatcher.
“He’s threatened, but he’s never taken anything, but he’s threatened,” she told the dispatcher. “He threatened me on New Year’s Eve, and I had to call the police about suicide, and then he did it like August before last, maybe.”
The caller’s reference to New Year’s Eve appears to be December 31, 2019, while her reference to “August before last” appears to concern August 2018. The Star has yet to independently verify these incidents.
During the call, the woman additionally claimed Hatley told her that he left their then 10-year-old child alone at his residence while he was actually at LPI Inc., which is located about 12 miles from the David Elmer Hatley Living Trust-owned residential property she described to the dispatcher.
In his book, Tested in Tennessee, Hatley described a difficult “pre-COVID period,” calling it “a hard and dark time.” He also wrote that he divorced his second wife in 2019, but later in the book said that the divorce “had become final” by sometime in 2020.
Hatley also described this second divorce as “brutal,” and stated that he “threw himself into distraction” from grief during the period between splitting from his second wife and marrying his third wife.
“I was in my forties, I had lost both of my parents, and I had just gone through my second divorce, not a milestone anyone strives for,” wrote Hatley. “Though my business was succeeding immensely, I personally felt like a failure.”
After obtaining the audio on Tuesday, on Wednesday The Star filed a Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request with the Washington County Emergency Communications District (WCECD) to independently confirm its provenance. The audio provided by WCECD is identical to the recording obtained by The Star, confirming it authentically reflects a 911 call that was made on February 16, 2020.
The Star has redacted the caller’s first name, identifying information about the minor child, and private contact and residential information from the transcript.
Listen to the full recording of the 911 call naming Hatley:
Read the full transcript of the 911 recording obtained by The Star:
Computer-generated Voice: February 16, 2020 12:34.12.
Dispatch: Washington County 911.
Caller: Hi, my husband is threatening suicide and has sent out a suicide letter, and I need someone to check on him, please. He just called me and told me he’s taken all these pills and it’s over with.
Dispatch: What’s the address?
Caller: He’s at 506 Twin Oaks Drive, Johnson City, 37601. He’s at LPI Inc., the business that he owns.
Dispatch: One second.
Caller: We’re going through a divorce right now, and he’s done this once before, but this time he’s written out a letter to everybody telling them everything and told me.
Dispatch: Hold on, hold on. I have to type all of the information here. He said he’s, he called you just now?
Caller: He called me and told me to check my email and asked me to not screw over the kids, that he’s taken all these pills, and he’s killing himself, and it’s already done. And then he hung up, and I read the email, and it said he’s at work, which is LPI Inc., at 506 Twin Oaks Drive, and he’s written out a letter to everybody telling them, like, what he loves about them, and all this stuff, and this big letter to me telling me what he’s done, and take care of the kids, and all this stuff.
Dispatch: What is his name?
Caller: David Hatley, H-A-T-L-E-Y.
Dispatch: And did he, did he say what kind of medications he took?
Caller: No, he just, I asked him, he said no, he’s just taking a bunch of pills and it’s done, it’s already done. He’s already done it. But he threatened suicide on us, on me, on New Year’s Eve, but he didn’t go to this extent, and then he did it a while back, but like, we’re going through a divorce and he’s realized he’s not going to go back the way they were.
Dispatch: [Crosstalk] You said he’s, he’s done this before?
Caller: He’s threatened, but he’s never taken anything, but he’s threatened. He threatened me on New Year’s Eve and I had to call the police about suicide, and then he did it like August before last, maybe-
Dispatch: Do you know what part of that place he works in, or his supervisor’s name, or something?
Caller: Yeah, he owns it. So it might be locked, the building might be locked. He’s the owner.
Dispatch: [Crosstalk] He’s the owner?
Caller: So if you look at the front of the, yeah, if you look at the front of the building, his office is the corner office on the right side, front right side of the building.
Dispatch: Hold on just a minute.
Caller: I’m going to call [CHILD]. I haven’t even seen him, we just dropped [CHILD] off there.
Dispatch: He said you’re looking at the front of the building, his office is where?
Caller: The front right corner.
Dispatch: So it’s, so he’s at work, so he doesn’t have any other employees there at this time?
Caller: Yeah, his email says, I don’t think so, I don’t know.
Dispatch: Hold on. So you, you don’t think he’s, he’s not normally open, he’s just over there at the office?
Caller: Yeah. I mean, sometimes people will come in and work on the weekends, but it’s like nobody’s required to, so it’s kind of hit or miss. I, I’m gonna, I can head over there, though, and see if somebody has a key can meet me there. I don’t have a key.
Dispatch: You said you do not have a key?
Caller: But usually if you go around, I, I don’t have a key, but usually if you walk around the building, you can find a door unlocked, but I can find somebody who has a key to meet us over there. I, I’m, I just got out of church, and he just called me and said that. And then I dropped [CHILD] off at his house today, and he said that he doesn’t know where [CHILD] is at, and [CHILD] is 10, so I need to kind of go figure out that problem. [CHILD], my [CHILD], my [CHILD] texted and said, can I come over? Mom’s going to church. He said, yes. So I took [CHILD] over there, and [CHILD] went in the house, and I went to church. And then he just told me he’s not seen our [CHILD].
Dispatch: Alright, let’s see.
Caller: So I guess I should probably go home and check on [CHILD] while somebody else goes to check on David.
Dispatch: What’s your name?
Caller: [REDACTED] Hatley.
Dispatch: Your number is [REDACTED]?
Caller: Yes.
Dispatch: Where’s your, where’s your, where’s your [CHILD] at, you said, your kids?
Caller: My [CHILD] is, I, we have one [CHILD] together, and we have, he has two sons from a previous marriage. We all, like his ex wife, and me, him, all live like in the same neighborhood, and so that’s [REDACTED]. I dropped my [CHILD] off-
Dispatch: Hold on. Is there any way you can meet officers maybe down there? I don’t know. If you don’t have a key, I don’t know if a whole lot of, a whole lot of good that’ll do. I’m just trying to see if we can get somebody in there to check on him.
Caller: I can meet officers at work, and I can have somebody at work come and give us a key, and I could call my [CHILD] right now and see if [CHILD] is okay. I don’t. I haven’t even talked to [CHILD]. I called you all first. He’s actually, I mean, he wrote out in the huge letter.
Dispatch: Why would your [CHILD] be in any danger? Who, whose house is [CHILD] at?
Caller: No, [CHILD] is at David’s house, alone, and [CHILD] is ten, I guess. I, cause I asked him, I said, where’s, I said, where’s [CHILD]? I left [CHILD] at your house this morning. He said, yeah, I left before y’all got there. I’ve not even seen [CHILD]. And here I am thinking he’s there with [CHILD]. So I need to go and see if [CHILD]-
Dispatch: Hold on, hold on. He said [CHILD] is possibly at his house alone, meaning your house?
Caller: No, well, it was my house. We have two houses on our property, and I live in one, and my husband lives in the other one. So I drove my [CHILD] from my house to my husband’s house this morning because my husband told [CHILD] to come on over. So [CHILD] went on in the house, and I left and went to church. And then I just talked to my husband, and I said, where is [CHILD]? That’s our [CHILD]. And he said, I don’t know, I’ve not seen [CHILD]. I said, I dropped [CHILD] off at your house this morning. He said, yeah, I left right before you all got there. But I haven’t heard from my [CHILD], so I don’t know.
Dispatch: What’s, what’s that address where [CHILD] is?
Caller: [REDACTED]. I was about to eat, I’m get, I’m paying my bill right now, and I’m going home to see if [CHILD] is there, and okay. I’m gonna call as soon as I hang up with you.
Dispatch: Did, did you say you could get a hold of any of them, did you say you can get a hold of any of the employees and let ’em in?
Caller: Yes, I’m gonna call, I’m gonna call them right now. Can I put you on hold?
Dispatch: [Crosstalk] She don’t have a key to anything.
Caller: No, we’re going through a divorce. I don’t have a key.
Dispatch: Ma’am, hold on a minute, ma’am.
Caller: Excuse me, I’m sorry.
Dispatch: Well, hold on, I’m just trying to get information to pass to my officers before I put them in a situation that they don’t know what’s going on. When they get down there to the gate, if they turn their siren on will the gate open, do you know that?
Caller: I don’t think so, no. You have to have a garage door opener. But I could call somebody and get them in there. Is there a black Tesla there?
Dispatch: I don’t know, they’re not there yet. That’s why I’m trying to get somebody there. How soon can you get somebody there to let them in?
Caller: I can call somebody right now if I hang up.
Dispatch: Okay, do you know how long it might take them or how, how close they live to it?
Caller: Like, if I can get ahold of somebody, I could, I can have somebody there in like ten, fifteen minutes.
Dispatch: Okay, go ahead and do that.
Caller: At the longest.
Dispatch: And if you get a hold of someone, and if you do, call 911 back and let us know how long it’s gonna be and what kind of vehicle they’re driving.
Caller: Okay thanks. And if, if there’s a black Tesla at the place, that’s him. He has a black Tesla, and you can see it from the gate.
Dispatch: Okay. All right, I’ll let them know.
Computer-generated Voice: February 16, 2020 12:41.47.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Hatley” by David Hatley.
